Luckless Brisbane centre Justin Hodges is almost certain to miss Friday night’s NRL derby with Gold Coast after again failing to complete training.

While Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin stopped short of ruling out his star centre, he was resigned to losing him to his latest injury – a small crack in a lower rib suffered in last weekend’s 19-18 loss to Parramatta.

The 31-year-old Queensland and Australian representative has already missed blockbuster games against Melbourne and South Sydney with hamstring and groin injuries.

“At this stage, I don’t think he’ll play,” said Griffin after Hodges walked off on Thursday morning midway through training.

“He had painkillers this morning to train and obviously it didn’t quite hit the mark.

“I’d say, at this stage, he won’t play but – if there’s something that can be done between now and then (game day) – we will have a look at it but, at this stage, he won’t be there.”

Griffin said the rib fracture was in an awkward spot, most likely ruling out any chance of him having a painkilling injection to play.

Promising rookie Jordan Kahu will slot into Hodges’s right centre spot with Lachlan Maranta recalled from the Queensland Cup to play on the wing.

Wynnum Manly Queensland Cup star Jake Granville is in line to make his NRL debut off the bench as a back-up dummy half with utility Ben Hunt required to fill in for injured five-eighth Scott Prince (hamstring).

Granville was the Queensland Cup player of the year in 2011 as a fullback but has since switched to hooker.

Griffin said Granville would almost certainly come into his 17-man squad which he would finalise on Friday.