After a horror start to the NRL season, Manly have received a major boost with fullback Tom Trbojevic set to return against Gold Coast on Saturday.
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The NSW Origin star has been cleared to play after missing the first five rounds of the season with a hamstring injury.
There was speculation Trbojevic injured himself while racing a fan on Manly Corso in February, but the 24-year-old insists he slipped in the shower.
Saturday's game will mark his first of the season and his 20th NRL match since the end of 2018 as he's battled numerous injuries.
It'll be just his second NRL game since round six last season after he suffered a shoulder injury in round 19.
Without him, the Sea Eagles have lost 20 of 29 games since the start of 2019.
In comparison they've won 14 of the 19 games he's played across the same period.
It comes as scans confirm Dylan Walker will miss up to two months with a high grade hamstring injury suffered in Friday's 13-12 win over the Warriors.
The injury will put further pressure on the squad with second-rower Jack Gosiewski to miss up to three months with a knee injury with Curtis Sironen, Morgan Boyle, Moses Suli and Andrew Davey all sidelined.
Gosiewski has been replaced in the pack by Haumole Olakau'atu who is fit to return from an elbow injury against the Titans in Mudgee.
Meanwhile, Brisbane lock Pat Carrigan has backed the dropping of Anthony Milford and Tesi Niu from the side to face Penrith on Thursday night.
Coach Kevin Walters has made the call to axe million-dollar man Milford for the match, replacing him with Brodie Croft who is elevated from the interchange bench.
"Kev has addressed everyone and is clear in what he had to say to us, not individually but as a group, and some of us our performances haven't been up to scratch," Carrigan said on Tuesday.
"Kevie is a passionate Bronco and he knows what he wants to see from people in the jersey and he says he hasn't been seeing that.
"With that comes changes.
"I'm fully supportive of that, for Kevie to draw a line in the sand and to make those decisions on where we want to go to this season."
Elsewhere, Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire has called on rookie hooker Jake Simpkin to make his NRL debut against South Sydney on Saturday.
It comes at the expense of Jacob Liddle, who has been dropped to the reserves bench after Sunday's loss to North Queensland at Leichhardt Oval.
Australian Associated Press
