Forward Mitch Fowler broke his hand during last weekend’s 62-point demolition of Forster-Tuncurry which will put him out of action for three to four weeks.

He’ll miss this weekend’s clash to Wauchope.

Korie Paio is still out with injury and Adam Atkins managed to sever the tendons in his hand during the week in a washing up mishap.

Encouragingly, coach Digby Murray will still be able to select the same starting 13 that have started to find their groove over the last month.

“Those three would all normally be in our starting 17,” he said.

He has all-but ruled out finishing in the top two, but that doesn’t mean he has placed any less emphasis on continuing their winning run at Lank Bain Sports Complex on Saturday.

“I think the top three is settled and a couple of costly losses are going to bite us,” he said.

“We lost by two to Taree and Forster and then we beat them convincingly last week.”

Saturday’s clash will be the third time the Blues and Breakers have met each other this season.

Although the Breakers won the previous two games, Murray expects a battle in the forwards.

“They can still make the finals and they’ve got a strong forward pack, so it’s going to be a tough game.”

“They’ve given us a good go each time we’ve played them.”

Wauchope will go into the game confident of scoring an upset win after they pushed Wingham all the way in a 28-22 loss last weekend.

“By all reports they had their opportunities in that game,” Murray said.