South Sydney second-rower Kyle Turner could play next week despite suffering his seventh concussion in two years in his side's thrilling 20-16 win over Penrith on Sunday.
Appearing in his first NRL match since breaking his neck in February, Turner was felled in an attempted tackle on Panthers prop Jeremy Latimore early in the second half.
Play was stopped for almost five minutes before the promising second-rower slowly got to his feet and walked from the field.
"Those moments as a coach, the first thing you think of is just about his welfare," coach Michael Maguire said after the match.
"But I just shook his hand in there and he said he's ready to go next week."
"No doubt he'll want to play this week and we'll assess and do all the right testings to make sure he's okay. But it's good to see him out there playing."
Maguire said he wasn't concerned by the amount of head knocks Turner has suffered due to the club's extensive management into his wellbeing.
"We've been pretty diligent around all the testings. We've actually flown him down to Melbourne, he's had all the right tests and seen all the right people. It was just an unfortunate bump," he said.
An upset looked to be on the cards when Penrith, who had seven first-choice starters on the sideline, shot to a 12-nil lead inside the half hour mark.
But the defending premiers moved quickly to level the score by the break and then nudged ahead early in the second half through a 48th minute penalty goal.
Rabbitohs centre Dylan Walker looked to have sealed the win on a well-executed right-side sweep in the 67th minute, only for Lewis Brown to set up a grandstand finish with a long-range try seven minutes later.
The Panthers had numerous opportunities to steal a win in the closing stages but the Rabbitohs held firm to consolidate their spot in the top four.
Penrith winger Robert Jennings came off in the first half with a hamstring injury and didn't return.
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