South Sydney coach John Lang has challenged bench players David Tyrrell and Eddy Pettybourne to step up and cover for the loss of Dave Taylor as the Rabbitohs walk the tightrope to the play-offs.
Taylor is unlikely to play again this season after breaking his collarbone in Souths' vital 38-28 win over the Warriors on Sunday.
The absence of the wide-running second-rower comes on top of injuries to key forwards Michael Crocker, Issac Luke, Scott Geddes and Luke Stuart.
It has eaten into the Rabbitohs formidable depth and now Lang is calling on more from his understudies as Souths, who will be eighth or ninth at the completion of round 20, look to nail down a top eight berth over the closing six rounds.
"We've been very fortunate with our backs – we've hardly had an injury – but we've had a lot of injuries in the forwards," the veteran coach said.
"Luckily we've also got a lot of depth in the forwards and we've needed every bit of it."
"We can still put out a strong side but we don't want too many more injuries."
"Dave (Taylor) will be a big loss but Eddy Pettybourne gives us some real attack on the edge and Dave Tyrell did some good things for us on the edge as well (against the Warriors)."
"We will be looking to them."
English forward Sam Burgess concurred, declaring: "Dave's a handful and we're going to miss him but it's time (for his replacements) to stand up and really be counted as a Souths first grade player and I'm sure they will be up to it."
Injury has restricted Pettybourne to just 10 games this year but he looked back to his best against the Warriors.
He has a tremendous understanding with five-eighth John Sutton, hitting a hole to score his first try of the year at a crucial stage of Sunday's match.
"He's a big loss and a tough one for us to overcome but we've still got a lot of young fellas that are going to step up and do the job," Pettybourne told Sportal after being told of Taylor's injury.
"It's not just me – everyone's going to have to step up with Dave out and play their part."
"We've got to keep winning games to make the finals and it's in my head that I'm going to do that little bit more."