Rabbitohs hooker Issac Luke is in danger of missing his first ever grand final after being put on report for a dangerous throw on Sonny Bill Williams in Friday night's historic preliminary final win.
Luke's status for the biggest game of his career now rests in the hands of the NRL match review committee, who must decide whether they should charge the New Zealand international on Monday for the 38th minute incident.
Luke put on a brave face in what was a buoyant Rabbitohs dressing room after the win.
"I'm not worried at the moment. I'm just worried about obviously our win. Whatever comes, comes. At the moment I'm just worried about our recovery [on Saturday]," he said.
Coincidentally, the 27-year-old is a family friend of the Williams family, with the two to again see each other on Saturday at a party for Williams' niece.
"We're pretty close – my wife's cousins with him. [So] a bit of banter there," he said.
"I'm going to a birthday of his niece's tomorrow. Hopefully I'll catch up with him there. Yeah, I'll still go. We're family. You know what New Zealand families are like."
A proud Luke was also still coming to terms with being involved in the first South Sydney team to reach a grand final in 43 years.
"I've been here since 2007 and we got that step closer that year and we've fallen short a lot the last few years," he said.
"To get that one step closer, I'm on a high. I'm really shocked at the moment. But we've really dug deep throughout the 26 rounds.
"It really goes to show when you prepare yourself well and really put in those one percenters you get those efforts, you came out like we did."
The eight-year pro said that while he would humbled by the opportunity to play in such a historic grand final, he insisted the team had still yet to achieve anything.
"Just to be on the same page as obviously our legends that have come through the years," he said.
"And obviously the players of the past, present... to be able to represent them in a big match, and to be able to go that step closer, it's a real honour and I'm really humbled by it.
"[But] look, we haven't really done anything. That's one thing that's really stuck with us. We can go as far as we did last year, but we still haven't done anything. To this day, we still haven't done anything. Obviously we'll work on our recovery [on Saturday] and then Monday it's back at training."
