Cronulla will need to weigh up whether Andrew Fifita is elevated to captain for Friday's grudge match should Paul Gallen be ruled out through injury.
Gallen will do everything he can to take the park for the Sharks after scans cleared him of a fracture in his left shoulder but confirmed ligament damage.
Controversial: Sharks prop Andrew Fifita.
The injury was enough to keep the Sharks warrior from the field the final half hour against Penrith on Friday night.
As Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan said after the game: "For him to not come back in a big semi-final, it was a bit concerning.''
Gallen looked in clear discomfort at Saturday's recovery session in Caringbah. He received a cortisone injection to help with the pain.
With back-up skipper Wade Graham already out for the season with a ruptured ACL, Fifita could be a captaincy option for the huge preliminary final given he has been Shane Flanagan's unofficial third-choice leader.
He was entrusted with the job against the Panthers after Gallen's early exit, even though Chad Townsend attended the post-match press conference.
And in his first game as captain against Canberra earlier this season, Fifita played the entire 80 minutes and destroyed the Raiders.
While Fifita returned from Tonga's World Cup campaign a changed man, a couple of recent slip-ups, including an ugly post-try celebration and expletive-laden appearance on a podcast, might convince the Sharks the captaincy is too much of a burden and opt for another senior player like Luke Lewis.
Fifita is also set to receive a hostile reception down south after he bragged on a podcast about deliberately knocking over a tray of drinks being consumed by heckling Storm supporters at the venue last year.
The retiring Lewis, 35, also failed to finish the game on Friday night with calf soreness, but declared himself a certain starter against the Storm.
Flanagan had not given the captaincy any thought, but knew he had a couple of capable options.
"The thing with Andrew when he takes that leadership role it does settle him, and we gave it to him for a reason,'' Flanagan told Fairfax Media.
"But whether it's right for this semi-final I'll have to have a think about it during the week.
"He did a good job when he took it on during the year. If we go that way he'll do a job."
Fifita will already be forced to play bigger minutes should Gallen miss out.
The mid-season signing of Aaron Woods has also come in handy given the Kangaroos front-rower, like Fifita, is capable of playing 60-plus minutes.
Meanwhile, Lewis, who will hang up the boots at some stage in the next fortnight, said he would be fit for the Storm, and hoped Gallen played alongside him.
"I've got a cork [in the calf] but it's in an awkward spot,'' Lewis said.
"When I took off, it was giving me sharp stabbing pains. I knew if I kept running on it it could turn into something major.
"I should be back running with the boys by Monday or Tuesday.
"I'll definitely be right for the weekend.
"'Galza' [Gallen] has been around the club a long time, and to get an injury, especially this time of year, it always gets you down. He knows his body better than anyone."
Cronulla have proven they can win a big final without Gallen and Graham, just as they did against Canberra in 2016 when Gallen was ruled out with back spasms and Graham knocked out in the opening exchanges. Matt Prior played almost an entire game that occasion.
As for the Storm hatred, Lewis said: "I wouldn't call it hatred. I'd say it's a respect thing because we know how good they are, and how good we have to be to beat them.
"We go out there and know we have to put all out energy and focus into the game because they'll leave you standing behind your goal posts more often than not."
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