‘It’s been a tough year on the injury front’: Souths lose Cody Walker to injury, Latrell Mitchell still weeks away from possible return

South Sydney’s slim finals hopes have taken a major hit with superstar halfback Cody Walker ruled out of Saturday’s must-win game against the Sharks with a calf injury.

The veteran playmaker suffered the injury during last week’s loss in Canberra and will be replaced in the side by Dion Teaupa, who has played just three games for Souths this year.

“He’s not right, he won’t play,” interim coach Ben Hornby said, with Walker leading the team for try assists this season.

“He hurt his calf last week. He tried to give it a go today but it’s just not right, so we’ll give it another week and go from there.

“The physio told me he’s just not right and he doesn’t feel like he can get through the game, so there’s no point putting him in that situation.

“It was his first session today. Dion has been training all week, so I’m happy for him to come in and get his opportunity.”

Walker is expected to return in time for next Thursday’s game against the ladder-leading Storm in Sydney, but their season could be over by then with the Rabbitohs needing to win their remaining fixtures to sneak into the top eight.

Souths have paid the price for a horror start to the year – winning just one of their opening 10 matches – with injuries to key personnel keeping a large chunk of their salary cap on the sideline.

Latrell Mitchell, Cam Murray, Tevita Tatola and Jai Arrow have all suffered long-term injuries, while try-scoring machine Alex Johnston will miss the rest of the season after he ruptured his achilles last week against the Raiders.

“It’s been a tough year on the injury front,” Hornby said, with Fletcher Myers to replace Johnston and take over the goalkicking duties against Cronulla.

“We thought we stopped it for a while, but it seems to have come back again.

“They’re the cards that have been dealt, but we still have a side that’s good enough to go out and be competitive.

“It (the injuries) has been massive. When you’re losing Origin players for long periods, it hurts your team.

“But I’m not here to make excuses for where we are. We’ve just got to go out and be our best.”

There were signs of life when Souths won five games in a row on the back of Mitchell’s magic, but a serious foot injury against the Eels in round 18 has hurt them massively, with Hornby confirming his star fullback is still weeks away from a possible return.

“I think ‘Trell’ has got another three weeks in the boot,” he said.

“He’s not going to come straight out of the boot and play the next week, so there’s going to be a build-up period to see where it’s at.

“We’ve got another scan and the boot for three weeks and then we go from there.”