Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen appears an unlikely starter for Saturday night’s NRL clash with the Warriors, but a final decision won’t be made until game day.

Scans cleared Gallen of any more damage to his posterior cruciate ligament after he aggravated the knee injury while leading NSW in Wednesday night’s State of Origin II win over Queensland.

Gallen has battled the injury since early May when he hobbled off the field in the round-nine loss to South Sydney.

He missed the following game against Melbourne, raced the clock to play in Origin, before again limping off in the Sharks’ round-13 defeat to Parramatta – the Eels staging their late fightback only after Gallen had left the field.

The stats monster was clearly hobbled at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night and, after scans on Thursday and a meeting with the club physio on Friday, it was determined that a decision on his availability would be left until Saturday.

“He’s unlikely, but he hasn’t been ruled out yet,” a Sharks spokesperson told AAP.

“Gal will meet with the coach (Shane Flanagan) in the morning and they’ll make a decision then.”

The loss of Gallen would be a big blow, but the Sharks have proven in recent wins over ladder leaders Melbourne and Gold Coast that they can win without their inspirational skipper in the side.

With or without Gallen, Cronulla won’t be underestimating the Warriors, who are determined to go into the bye on the back of a win after going down to Wests Tigers ahead of their last rest.

“We missed an opportunity and we don’t want to be doing that,” coach Brian McClennan said of the round-11 loss to the Tigers.

“We understand the value of getting two points before a bye.

“We made a mistake once – we don’t want to be doing that again.”

Utility Lewis Brown has been handed the hooking role in place of the injured Alehana Mara, but back-up rake Pita Godinet will travel with the side as 18th man, McClennan revealing he might yet come into the 17-man squad at the expense of Steve Rapira or Sione Lousi.