Michael Gordon says he won’t risk spending another long spell on the sidelines to play in Sunday’s City-Country clash in Coffs Harbour.

The 29-year-old injured his knee during training with the Country side this week and although he’s hopeful of playing he admits he may be forced to miss out.

Gordon suffered a season-ending ACL tear just after the 2011 City-Country clash and then broke his leg last year forcing him to miss almost 18 months of action in total.

He admits missing the City-Country clash would be a great disappointment but acknowledges he has to look at the bigger picture.

“I am confident of playing, but at the same time I don’t want to let the team down by not being at my best as I know what a big game this is,” Gordon told AAP on Wednesday.

“There’s no point playing if you can’t play to your potential and I want to be right for myself and also for the boys.

“It’s one of those things where it feels good in training, but when you get into the rigours of the game it could start hurting.

“I’ve missed a lot of footy over the last two years and it will be hard to do so again here, but I have to be right.”

Gordon has been Cronulla’s best performer in a difficult season dominated by the investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).

The club was thrown into turmoil on the eve of the new season by the probe which led to the board sacking of four members of the backroom staff and the standing down, then reinstating of coach Shane Flanagan.

Despite this, Gordon insists at no stage did he think he’d made the wrong decision to move across Sydney from Penrith, where he’d spent seven happy seasons.

“I was more concerned about my mates’ welfare (at Cronulla) to be honest,” he said.

“The club as a whole was doing it tough and it was up to the new players to lift the mood. We have a few characters around the place, and while it has been tough it has brought us closer together.”

Gordon’s Cronulla teammate Beau Ryan is on stand-by to replace him should he fail his fitness test, but the colourful utility back said he’s not holding out any hope of making his Country debut.

“I am on stand-by for Mick and if it was anyone else I would try and hurt them in training, but I love Mick,” Ryan said.

“I would love to play, but I am pretty confident he will. But he’s been our best player this year at Cronulla and I want him to show he’s Country’s best player and then play Origin again.”