Cooper Cronk will be fit to play in next Saturday's NRL blockbuster against Cronulla with the Sydney Roosters allaying any medical concerns over their star playmaker.
After spending the past fortnight on the sidelines because of a hamstring complaint, Cronk copped a series of stiff hits against Brisbane on Thursday night before being taken off in the second half
The 35-year-old insisted that was only as a precaution with the Roosters up 22-0 when he went off, before club staff cleared him of any injury concerns on Friday.
"No injury. I've been out with a tight hamstring for the last two weeks," Cronk said.
"The idea leading into the game was to get some real good quality minutes in. Our first half was pretty good, we played real high-quality footy.
"In terms of getting our bench some minutes, it was just precautionary to come off."
The Roosters star also fell victim to a late hit from Brisbane's Tevita Pangai Jnr, who was on Friday facing a two-week ban over the hit.
Cronk stayed on the ground for several moments after being hit from behind by the lock, prompting Andrew Johns to label it a "dog shot".
"It's part of the job description. It's part of your role as a ball player, you've got to go into the line and create some space for your outside players," Cronk said.
"The officials will take care of all that stuff. As long as I keep on getting up and standing, I'll keep doing my job.
"I'd prefer not to (get hit from behind) but sometimes that's a part of football. Sometimes they do it so halves don't go into the line and create space.
"I'll keep doing it for my team as long as guys can take advantage of it."
Johns has long been vocal about the need to offer greater protection for playmakers and Cronk said there was no place in the game for cheap shots.
"If it's late, high, aggressive contact, wipe it out of the game completely," Cronk said.
"I'm not talking about that incident. I'm talking generically.
"There was a question mark. It could have been 10 in the bin but I trust the officials."
