Breaking: The announcement of Cody Walker dealt a severe new blow to the South’s waning prospects of playing in the finals.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the desperate South Sydney side.

South Sydney’s already slim NRL finals hopes have been dealt a crushing new blow, with star playmaker Cody Walker ruled out of Saturday night’s crunch showdown away to Cronulla due to a calf injury. Interim Souths coach Ben Hornby named Walker to start in the halves against the Sharks but revealed at training on Friday that the veteran was “not right” and would take no part in the match.

The Rabbitohs halfback injured the calf during last week’s loss to Canberra and tried testing it out at Souths training on Friday, but ultimately succumbed to the issue. Walker’s place in the Rabbitohs side is set to be taken by Dion Teaupa, who has played just three NRL games for Souths this year.

Hornby confirmed the devastating news about Walker when asked about his inspirational playmaker during a press conference at Souths training on Friday. “He’s not right, he won’t play,” the interim coach said. “He hurt his calf last week. He tried to give it a go today but it’s just not right, so we’ll give it another week and go from there.

“The physio told me he’s just not right and he doesn’t feel like he can get through the game, so there’s no point putting him in that situation. It was his first session today. Dion has been training all week, so I’m happy for him to come in and get his opportunity.”