Penrith could start the NRL season without Viliame Kikau after the bulldozing Fijian went down with a knee injury in the Panther's 28-8 trial win over South Sydney.
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The giant back-rower will have scans on Monday but the early prognosis was he suffered a grade one or two medial ligament tear, which could rule him out for two to six weeks.
Kikau was taken from the field in just the third minute after twisting his right knee awkwardly in a tackle at a wet and dreary Redfern Oval on Saturday.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was upbeat and said he didn't expect to lose Kikau for an extended period of time.
"He looks like he's damaged his medial but I don't think it's too bad," Cleary said.
"We'll just have to wait and see.
"He's had a great a pre-season. It's not going to be too bad. Unfortunately we often get someone injured in these games."
Following the off-season departures of Trent Merrin and Corey Harawira-Naera, the loss of the 23-year-old would leave a significant hole on Cleary's left edge.
His absence would bring Hame Sele, Tyrell Fuimaono and Liam Martin into contention to start in the Panthers' season-opener against Parramatta in three weeks.
A packed crowd of 4,111 braved the weather to pay tribute to Rabbitohs stalwart John Sutton, with the game serving as a testimonial match.
"It wasn't too bad, it wasn't like (the week of his 300th first-grade match) where I was tearing up," Sutton said.
"First game back I was just nervous to play some football. It was awesome to see people turn up. I can't say enough about the members and the fans of this club. They turn up rain, hail or shine."
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett, who took the reins for the first time, would have been buoyed by a strong performance by Corey Allan.
The 20 year-old floated between fullback and the wing and now looks within striking distance of locking down a backline spot.
Sione Katoa jumped out of dummy-half to grab the Panthers first try after just five minutes as he looks to fend off Wayde Egan in the race for to the No.9 jersey.
With Dallin Watene-Zelezniak still out after off-season knee surgery, Dylan Edwards made the most of his opportunity in the Panthers No.1 and looks set to start there in round one.
Some of the Rabbitohs' biggest stars including Sutton, Sam Burgess, Damien Cook had 20-minute hit outs while Panthers half James Maloney was booed by the Redfern faithful when he came off after 30 minutes.
The Rabbitohs ran in two tries through Jacob Gagan just before halftime to make reduce the deficit to 12-8 at the break.
But Penrith tries to Tyrone May, Paea Pua and Brent Naden in the second half blew out the margin.
Australian Associated Press
