Brisbane's centre curse has struck again with Alex Glenn facing a four-six week stint on the sidelines after suffering a high-ankle sprain in last night's 22-12 loss to Penrith.
With representative centre Justin Hodges still yet to make an appearance in 2010 after snapping his Achilles in the pre-season, Brisbanehave gone through a number of players in the centres already.
Coach Ivan Henjak, who has used back-rowers Glenn and Ben Te'o and also utility Matt Gillett to partner Israel Folau, will have to find another option, however the club will be relieved that scans showed Glenn had not suffered a fracture.
Gillett and Corey Norman are options for Brisbane's next game against Parramatta.
"It's not good," said Henjak after Brisbane's five-game winning streak came to an end in front of 42,000 fans still on a high from Queensland's State of Origin win 48 hours earlier.
"We're not sure how serious it is, he'll have to get some scans but at this stage it's looking like four to six weeks.
"He's been going really well for us.
"We'll have some cover there, we've just got to get through this third Origin."
Henjak said Brisbane had been "a little off" but gave Penrith plenty of credit for their committed defence.
"For whatever reason ... I know the reason, we were on a bit of a downer," he said.
"We've been up for a while and I thought our effort was really good.
"I couldn't fault the boys effort but we just looked a little bit flat with the five-day turn around.
"We just weren't on our game like we have been the last five weeks."
Penrith had a big say in that.
Their speed from dummy half always had Brisbane back pedalling and young fullback Lachlan Coote was unflappable at the back.
Their only casualty from the win was their coach Matt Elliott, unable to attend the post-match press conference after losing his voice during the game.
"The Broncos tested us up the middle but our defence was up to it," said assistant coach Steve Georgallis, stepping in for Elliott.
Panthers' captain Luke Lewis, rebounded from the disappointment of missing Wednesday night's State of Origin with an inspiring game which included a crucial try in the 50th minute to give his side a 16-6 lead.
"Brisbane probably weren't at their best," said Lewis.
