South Sydney will welcome back David Fifita from an extended patch on the sidelines alongside other inclusions as they attempt to snap a lean patch against the top-four Sea Eagles at Brookvale on Thursday night.

Fifita returns from almost two months on the sideline with a hamstring tear suffered against the Raiders in round six, with Brandon Smith and Campbell Graham also named in their side after proving their fitness.

In worse news, 2026 recruit Adam Elliott has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

The Bunnies will look to start the second half of the home and away season positively having lost three of their last four games, and falling out of the top four ahead of their bye last weekend.

Latrell Mitchell remains sidelined though, after being ruled out of Origin game one and two, with selection in the Blues side for game III remaining a possibility after Souths coach Wayne Bennett provided an update on his rehabilitation on a lower back issue.

"He's probably two or three weeks away still, from playing," Bennett told reporters this week.

Mitchell is slowly improving, "just not there yet", Bennett said, from the sciatic nerve issue that's seen him miss recent weeks.

Fifta averaged 153 running metres with the ball across five games to start 2026 and first year at the Rabbitohs.

The club will have to contend with a Manly outfit celebrating the confirmation replacement coach Kieran Foran is in for the long-term, having signed a three-year deal to lead the Northern Beaches outfit.

The club favourite stood in for Anthony Seibolt following his sacking after a terrible start to the year, with Foran leading the Sea Eagles to seven wins from eight games before a slip up against the Sharks at the weekend.

In a cruel blow, Elliott's first year at Souths has been cut short only weeks after it began.

"Adam Elliott suffered a deltoid rupture in his ankle playing against the Cowboys, ending his season, with a rehabilitation period of approximately five months," the Rabbitohs said on Tuesday.

The match against the Cowboys was just the third appearance Elliott had made in 2026.

At the Broncos' Gehamit Shibasaki has been ruled out of any chance of returning to Billy Slater's Queensland team in a fortnight's time, and is expected to be unavailable at clubland for a decent chunk of the season.

Shibasaki suffered a grade 2 MCL injury in Sunday's loss to the Dragons.

He is expected to miss 5-6 weeks.