Mitchell managed only 14 minutes in South Sydney's win over the St George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday night before leaving the field with what was confirmed to be a hamstring tear.

South Sydney officials were hoping to injury was only muscular but the tear came in the tendon of the hamstring, ruling him out for longer than originally anticipated.

In bad news for local Souths fans, the Rabbitohs are set to play at Apex Oval in six weeks' time with the superstar fullback highly unlikely to play against the Canberra Raiders on May 22.

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Mitchell will likely be replaced in the Rabbitohs' side by young gun Blake Taaffe who played in the star's absence last season.

Mitchell will miss roughly eight weeks due to the injury and will return around the same time as the first State of Origin game.

This now means there is no doubt over Brad Fittler's NSW centre pairing after Mitchell and Manly's Tom Trbojevic dominated QLD's edges during the 2021 State of Origin series, with the latter also being injured at the moment.

Tickets for South Sydney's match against the Canberra Raiders are still available via 123Tix.

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