Scans have revealed Shaun Johnson's knee injury isn't as serious as first thought, with the Warriors halfback rupturing the PCL in his left knee.
Johnson went down supporting a break in the second half of his side's loss to the Panthers on Friday night, immediately assisted from the field.
While there were fears Johnson had injured his ACL, the news was positive for the Kiwis playmaker who still might be a chance to feature at the season-ending Rugby League World Cup.
"This is a much better outcome than we had expected," Warriors team doctor John Mayhew said via a club statement.
"We had believed the injury was likely to be an ACL but scans have indicated this isn’t so and Shaun won’t need surgical intervention to repair the injury."
Given the timeframe however Johnson is unlikely to feature again for the Warriors in 2017.
Panthers lock Trent Merrin injured his knee in the same match and will also miss six to eight weeks.