South Sydney's injury woes have deepened with Cody Walker set to spend a month on the sidelines with a "severe" calf strain suffered at training this week.
Walker, 35, returned from a previous setback in the Bunnies' heavy loss to ladder-leaders Canterbury last week, with the latest blow expected to keep him out for up to five weeks, coach Wayne Bennett revealed on Thursday.
The stand-in skipper was named at five-eight for Friday's ANZAC Day match against the Storm in Melbourne on Tuesday, but will be replaced by Jye Gray in the no.6 jumper.
"He's not playing," Bennett said of Walker. "He's hurt his calf. Got a pretty severe tear there at training two days ago, three days ago. He'll be out for four or five weeks."
The coach clarified the fresh injury is to the opposite leg of a hamstring injury which ruled him out of round six, stating the club's disappointment at the news.
"He would be most disappointed, because it acts on him personally. But there's nothing we can do about it. It wasn't the hamstring…. no reason why they happen. Just as you get older, I think they become a little bit more vulnerable," Bennett said.
Latrell Mitchell will captain Souths at AAMI Park.
Despite starting in the halves during Walker's absence and alongside the veteran to face the Dogs, Mitchell slots back into fullback to face the second-placed Storm at a not-so-happy hunting ground for the Rabbitohs.
The club have never registered a win in Melbourne, and fell to a 54-20 loss on ANZAC Day in 2024.
"I think it's where he's most happy," Bennett said of Mitchell's slotting back into the no.1 jumper.
"My priority with the players is to put them in the place where they're happy and I think that's his. But he did a job for us (in the centre and halves), which we needed."
In his first game for 2025 against the Roosters in round 5, Mitchell lined up for his first club game in the centres since the 2019 Grand Final played with his former club.
It came after assurances from Bennett the NSW Origin and Kangaroos representative would return in his "number one" spot.
In other injury news, emerging outside back Tyrone Munro is expected to spend another six weeks on the sidelines with his collarbone injury.
