Key playmaker Jamie Soward could be a late inclusion for Penrith in Friday night's NRL clash with Brisbane after being sidelined for almost two months.
While he ruled out centre Dean Whare and hooker James Segeyaro returning and halfback Peter Wallace is still two weeks away, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said on Friday both Soward and forward Elijah Taylor could be called in for Suncorp Stadium clash.
Soward has been out of NRL action since round two after undergoing back surgery, but returned to full training two weeks ago and completed the captain's run on Thursday.
Cleary said a final decision would be made after seeing how Soward felt on Friday morning.
"He's progressing really well actually," Cleary said.
"Last two weeks he's trained fully. Obviously we're not going to risk him, but we'll see how he's progressing.
"He's done everything so far. He's still in that phase where he's training and waking up and seeing if there's any soreness.
I'm not going to push him. He's a senior player. He's experienced. He knows his own body. So that's a big part of it."
Cleary hopes the surgery will rectify a troublesome back that has plagued the 30-year-old since his days at St George-Illawarra.
"He was getting numbness through the leg, that was a big part of (getting the surgery)," he said.
"And it was going through his foot, and his kicking foot too. And all the associated stuff, not so much isolation in the back."
Taylor will also fly to Brisbane after missing the past two games with a knee injury.
"Elijah's some chance," Cleary said .
"He's been like that for two weeks. Again, with ET, it's a real feel thing for him. A lot of it's going into what he thinks and how he feels about it. I don't think he'll play but we'll see."
Brisbane confirmed Darius Boyd will make his long-awaited return to Broncos colours after recovering from a serious Achilles injury.
Cleary expected the Test and Origin star to make an instant impact.
"Often when a player comes back from a long break he has a really good game first up. It's the next one that's harder," he said.
"Hopefully that's not the case. But he's a class act and he's obviously been through a fair bit since the injury.
"I'm sure he's been looking forward to this day for a long time so hopefully we can make it a bit harder for him."
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