Dolphins hooker Jeremy Marshall-King is set for an extended stint on the sidelines, but coach Kristian Woolf has full faith in his replacement against Parramatta.

Marshall-King re-aggravated a large cut in his leg in last Friday's loss to the Sydney Roosters and will miss Thursday night's away clash with Kurt Donoghoe the new No.9.

Marshall-King had earlier missed two weeks after a stud opened up the wound in the win over Penrith.

It got infected and another whack has sent him back to the casualty ward.

Fiji international Donoghue returns after missing two weeks with a calf strain.

Woolf said Marshall-King's return would "certainly not (be in) a week or two".

"How long I don't know. It depends how quickly that heels," he said.

"Jeremy unfortunately got a direct blow there again and that's reopened up. He can't play this week and now we need to be really careful with it. He had a pretty major infection and it's certainly a major gash.

"We need to make sure it heals properly before we throw him back out. Looking after Jeremy is going to be our most important priority."

Donoghoe has "really impressed" the coach in a breakout season.

"He's a guy that has floated in and out a bit of Queensland Cup and had really short opportunities. Most of those have been 10 or 15 minutes off the bench over the last 12 months or two years," Woolf said.

"This year he has come on and sharpened right up to the level and shown he can do a job wherever we put him, and really add to our team.

"He was named to play hooker against the Raiders but unfortunately got a knock on the captain's run.

"I had utmost confidence he would do the job then and that confidence is still there."

The Dolphins, after two consecutive losses, welcome back veteran prop Felise Kaufusi after a two-week absence with a knee injury.

Joe Gould - AAP