A knee injury has cost Tevita Pangai jnr a grand final berth with Penrith not naming the destructive forward for Sunday's clash with South Sydney.
It means the mid-season recruit has played his sixth and final match for the Panthers having left the Broncos in July on a hit-and-run mission before linking with the Bulldogs next year.
Pangai jnr was seen wearing a brace on Monday after suffering MCL damage in Saturday afternoon's tense 10-6 victory over Melbourne.
While it's unfortunate news for Pangai jnr, his absence will give Spencer Leniu his first grand final experience after the 21-year-old prop missed out on last year's decider against the Storm.
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Leniu has been included on the interchange while fellow forwards James Fisher-Harris (knee) and Moses Leota (calf) are set to take their places at Suncorp Stadium despite injury concerns.
Meanwhile, South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds was on light duties on Tuesday as he manages a groin issue.
The skipper has eased into the week and didn't take part in Tuesday's field session with Benji Marshall filling in on the right edge.
Reynolds said he "felt pretty good" and "got some Ks [kilometres] in the legs" in preparation for his final match in the cardinal and myrtle.
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"I've still got to get through a bit of kicking and join the team for a bit of work. It's still a long week, still plenty of time to get back to 100 percent or as close as possible," Reynolds said on Tuesday.
The veteran playmaker gave up the goal-kicking duties to Blake Taaffe in the preliminary final win over Manly but the sharpshooter is hopeful he'll be fit to reclaim the tee from the youngster.
"We'll see how the week goes. I did a bit of running today, felt fine. We'll tick a few boxes and we'll get to captain's run and I'll have a few shots then and see how it feels," Reynolds said.
"But I'm pretty confident that I will be kicking."
As fate would have it, Penrith's Leniu was initially named for the 2020 prelim against South Sydney before a bout of rhinovirus forced the Minchinbury Jets junior to miss the match.
"That was pretty hard to take; if I played then maybe I would've played in the grand final as well," the Auckland-born prop said on Monday.
"Just soaking in the whole week, being in the grand final at a young age, was a really special moment for me even though I wasn't playing.
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"I was just watching the boys prepare, I gained a lot of confidence. Not winning [the premiership] was tough but hopefully, it gives us a bit more confidence going into this grand final.
"I didn't feel like I was sick enough to not play [in the prelim], but I just thought for the team I'll go get a COVID test just in case. I didn't want to give anything to the boys going into the grand final.
"It was a hard pill to swallow at the time, definitely."
Leota's withdrawal last week meant Leniu came onto the bench to help the Panthers exact revenge on the Storm.
While he only played 11 minutes in his 18th first-grade appearance of the season, Leniu chalked up 45 metres from four carries.
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He won't leave any stone unturned heading into Sunday's game.
Leniu is set to enjoy the experience alongside his great mate Stephen Crichton, who will line up on the wing.
"Stephen Crichton - where do I start with him? We go way back. I also went to school with him [at Patrician Brothers, Blacktown] since Year 7," Leniu said.
"Seeing him thrive in this game has just been real special for me to see. He's quite annoying, so I thought after school I was going to have a little break from him. But we ended up debuting together, so I haven't had much time away from him," he quipped.
"This is going to be the second year going into a grand final with him and I just hope he kills it again."
