Wigan have confirmed that new signing Matty Smith will sit out Saturday's Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final while opponents Leeds will have to do without Shaun Lunt if they meet Huddersfield in the final.
Scrum-half Smith was signed by the Warriors from Salford to plug the gap, in both the short and long-term, caused by the loss of Thomas Leuluai, who is out with a broken leg and returning to Auckland at the end of the season.
Smith, who made his Wigan debut off the bench in Sunday's win at Wakefield, was signed after the Cup register closed and coach Shaun Wane will stick with Sean O'Loughlin and Brett Finch as his half-backs for the first semi-final at Huddersfield's Galpharm Stadium.
"Obviously I left Lockers where he was at the weekend, knowing he was going to play there this weekend," said Wane.
Wane also confirmed that threequarter Iain Thornley, who made a tryscoring debut as a replacement for Josh Charnley against the Wildcats, will also be unavailable on Saturday, having been signed after the Cup deadline.
Charnley, Super League's runaway leading tryscorer this season, missed the trip to Wakefield after picking up a calf injury playing for England against the Exiles last Wednesday and is not certain to return this week.
"I will know more about that at the end of the week," said Wane. "He won't train today. It was a bad calf injury. I hope we get him back, his form has been fantastic."
Wane said there also remained a doubt over hooker Michael McIlorum, who missed the 52-10 win at Wakefield, but was confident prop forwards Jeff Lima and Paul Prescott will return.
"There are doubts over four or five," he added. "I'm not 100 per cent sure what my team is going to be yet.
"It is a bit of a short turnaround for us this week. Leeds have had two more days and I won't have everybody training today which is a shame."
Wigan still hope to have Leuluai and goalkicking winger Pat Richards back for Wembley on August 25 if they overcome Leeds.
Richards has been out since April with a knee injury and has suffered a setback in his rehabilitation.
"He is still about six weeks still," Wane said. "It was a pretty big operation he had.
"He's had a slight setback in training which has added a week to it. Pat has been driving really hard in rehab and probably pushed a bit too hard."
Leeds coach Brian McDermott will pick from an almost fully-fit squad and also expects his opponents to be close to full strength.
"I'd be surprised if they don't all play," he said of the Warriors' injury doubts. "I'll play for Wigan myself if Michael McIlorum doesn't play."
Forwards Kylie Leuluai, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Weller Hauraki are all in contention after sitting out the Rhinos' 21-6 win over Hull on Friday, leaving McDermott with some tricky selection issues.
"We've got some blokes who have played themselves into the team," he said. "We're not sure what that's going to be just yet.
"There's nobody ruled out through injury, other than Brent Webb, and whoever misses out, it's going to be tough."
Lunt is sure to be included in McDermott's 17 for the 13th consecutive match since joining the club on loan from the Giants.
He will remain at Headingley for the rest of the season but will not be able to face his parent club if they overcome Warrington in Sunday's second semi-final and the Rhinos beat Wigan.
"Huddersfield have a clause where he can't play against them," said McDermott.
"It would tough on Shaun should we find ourselves in the final against Huddersfield. It's a big call for them to make on the player.
"He's been pretty good for us. He compliments Rob Burrow really well. Rob has a very particular game, a very dynamic attacking game, and Lunty comes on and offers us a fair amount of control.
"The threat starts to come from other areas when he comes on the field. He blends well with us."
McDermott was speaking at a press conference to launch the club's new three-year sponsorship agreement with long-term backers Leeds Building Society.
