The Western Force have suffered a double blow for their Super Rugby match against the Reds as winger Nick Cummins and lock Sam Wykes have both been ruled out due to injury.
The Force are also sweating on whether captain Matt Hodgson will be fit to face the Queenslanders in Brisbane this weekend.
Wallabies winger Cummins has been battling with a knee inflammation for a few weeks while Wykes sprained his ankle playing in the team's 36-26 loss to the Bulls two weeks ago.
While both Cummins and Wykes have already been ruled out Hodgson is battling with a hamstring injury and is also expecting the birth of his first child any day now.
The rest of the Force squad flew to Brisbane on Wednesday and there is a slight chance of him making the flight later in the week.
Both have already been ruled out against the Reds, while Hodgson faces a race against time to recover from a .
Complicating matters for Hodgson is the impending birth of his first child, who is expected any day from now.
Hodgson didn't fly with the rest of the squad to Brisbane on Wednesday, but is still a slight chance of making the trek east later in the week.
"If we hold him out, it won't be because he couldn't play, but more the fact we would be taking a risk if we did play him," coach Michael Foley told AAP.
"We don't want to do that. He's very important to us for the rest of the season.
"We're also pleased with how Chris Alcock played against the Bulls, so we're fortunate it's one position where we do have a lot of depth."
Patrick Dellit could come in on the wing to replace Cummins and the Force are spoilt for choice in the back row as they have Richard Brown, Alcock, Ben McCalman and Angus Cottrell as options to replace Wykes.
Western Force five-eighth Sias Ebersohn had an excellent game against the Bulls in Pretoria but coach Foley said the Force they will need more than just a good kicking game to beat the Reds.
"Sias Ebersohn is a very impressive young 10. In South Africa for a short time, he was seen as the next best thing," Foley said.
"Often, young players get enormous pressure put on them, which is unfair.
"Sias Ebersohn is not the saviour for the Force. It's going to be a whole team performance that gets us results."
