Gold Coast Titans may have wrapped up a home semi-final with their 21-18 win over Wests Tigers on Friday night but the club faces a mounting injury toll.
In a matter of three weeks the glitter strip outfit has gone from the form team of the competition to one that is limping into the finals.
Captain Scott Prince had his shoulder needled and returned to play out the second half after injuring his AC joint, but three of his team-mates suffered game-ending injuries against the Tigers.
Improving centre Steve Michaels (shoulder), the tireless Brad Meyers (ribs) and Queensland lock Ashley Harrison (broken nose) all left the field in the second half and are in some doubt to be fit for next weekend's fixture.
Mat Rogers is still carrying a hip-flexor injury that would have ruled him out bar the importance last nights game; Luke Bailey is a week-to-week proposition after thumb surgery. But Titans coach John Cartwright predicted that Preston Campbell would be back next week.
When he landed awkwardly on his shoulder in the first half, Prince saw the season flash before his eyes.
"Yeah, I thought it was a fracture, thought the worst, as you do," he said.
"But the doctor game gave it the magic touch and when I got back out there Gilly (Titans trainer Trevor Gillmeister) reminded me that I was a soft bugger so that added some humour to it straight away."
Moving forward, the scheming half sees himself lining up for the Titans next week without any fear of further injury.
"The doctor says I can't do any more damage to it so that puts me in a good frame of mind," he said.
"We will strap it up and give it the magic touch (injection) and away we go."
For the Tigers, coach Tim Sheens lamented a slow start which saw the Titans go ahead 12-0 in the opening 15 minutes before the rain set in.
"We won't want to play another first half like that, it burnt a lot of energy," he said.
And captain Robbie Farah was happy to put the game behind him and move on.
"We still finish above the Titans on for and against so we will finish second or third," he said.
"We said after the game we will learn from it and I can assure you next week we will start a lot better."
The Tigers are expecting Liam Fulton, Bryce Gribbs and Geoff Daniela to return from injury for next weekend's clash.