Roosters confident of Tupou recovery with Cordner to race clock

The Roosters are confident winger Daniel Tupou has not suffered any serious damage from a neck injury but he was hospitalised after Sunday's dramatic win over Canberra.

Tupou was the cause of most concern for the premiers as he, Boyd Cordner and Latrell Mitchell all suffered alarming first-half injuries at Suncorp Stadium.

The former Blues winger was taken to hospital at half-time in the 30-24 victory as a precaution, with coach Trent Robinson reporting that Tupou was in good spirits after experiencing "tingles down his arm" from an awkward Michael Oldfield tackle.

He was later discharged from hospital and to return to Sydney on a later flight than the rest of the team.

Cordner is expected to face an uphill battle to pass concussion protocols in time for Friday's clash with Brisbane having been left prone on the turf by a heavy head knock.

"The guys have talked to him, he's good, he's in good spirits," Robinson said of Tupou, who underwent MRI scans in Brisbane as his teammates travelled home on Sunday night.

"Obviously [it's] not good to see him leave the field and in that position. But now it's about making sure everything's OK and getting the recovery done.

"It's not that serious. He obviously got up afterwards and he had some tingles down his arm like you would in that circumstance but he was OK. The doctors said they think he'll be fine."

With just a five-day turnaround before returning north of the border, it's unlikely Cordner will complete the NRL's return to play protocols for anyone who suffers concussion, but there is no set time frame on when the stages must be completed.

Should the NSW skipper be ruled out, he will join fellow co-captain Jake Friend (biceps), Brett Morris and Ryan Hall (both knee injuries) in an all-international Roosters casualty ward.

Robinson expects Mitchell to be right for a potential match-up with battling Bronco and Origin teammate James Roberts.

Like most though the Roosters coach feared the worst when Mitchell suffered what appeared a serious groin injury scoring his second try against the Raiders.

The 21-year-old superstar could barely hobble, let alone walk as he came from the field, only to recover and return to play out the final 20 minutes of the game after aggravating what Robinson believed was a pre-existing injury.

"I think Rapana, when he was going [to score], I think he maybe stood on his foot and extended his groin there," Robinson said.

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"I think that's what it looked like. There was a game about four weeks ago where he didn't kick on kick-offs because of that [injury].

"I don't know whether that just tweaked it a bit and he was OK to come back on.

"I thought that one that I saw four weeks ago come back and obviously the way he walked I was thinking what a lot of people were thinking, that we weren't going to see him again. It looked like it was going to be a few weeks."