Wests Tigers depth is set to be pushed to its limits in the lead-in to the NRL finals, with winger David Nofoaluma ruled out for the season with an anterior cruciate knee injury.

On the same day veteran five-eighth Braith Anasta went under the knife for suspected season-ending surgery, Nofoaluma was a shock scratching for the rest of 2014.

The brilliant winger has had a partial tear in his ACL for several months, but the club had been largely powerless to do anything about it.

However, his knee is now starting to feel increasingly unstable and the decision has been made for the flyer to undergo an operation to get the problem fixed before he does blow it out completely.

It comes just weeks after the Tigers agreed to release NSW Cup top try scorer Marika Koroibete to the Melbourne Storm before the June 30 transfer window.

Koroibete would have been a vital asset for Sunday’s clash against Canterbury, with Nofoaluma sidelined and fellow flanker Pat Richards also set to miss a couple of weeks with a groin injury.

In better news for the Tigers, Tim Simona, who lost his two front teeth in a nasty facial injury last month, is a chance of making an earlier than expected return in the outside backs against the Bulldogs.

Nofoaluma – who has scored seven tries this year – is a major loss to a team that’s dropped out of the top eight.

“It’s hard because he hasn’t ruptured it and it hasn’t gone how other ACL injuries go but we’ve decided to pull the pin on the season and he’s going to get the ACL fixed next week,” said Tigers physio Peter Moussa.

“It’s unfortunate but we don’t want to sit on the sidelines and wait for him to rupture it when he has a partial tear.”

Anasta has undergone surgery on his partially torn bicep, while Liam Fulton announced last week he was retiring due to ongoing concussion problems.

On Tuesday, NSW star Aaron Woods and a handful of other Tigers players missed training with a stomach bug – but aren’t in any doubt for Sunday’s clash against the Bulldogs.