SAM Burgess has cast doubt on whether or not Joe Philbin will be fit to play for Warrington Wolves in next week's play-off eliminator.

However, he insists the prop will be given every chance to recover from a calf issue in time to face St Helens at The Halliwell Jones Stadium next Saturday.

Philbin was left out of the side that thrashed London Broncos 54-0 to round off the regular season, with Max Wood taking his place in the matchday 17.

Burgess says the Warringtonian's fitness will be "a live situation" throughout next week as he battles to resume his place among the Wire forwards, who will be boosted by Paul Vaughan's return from suspension.

"I don’t know – it’s another that’s pretty fluid and he’s getting pretty hard at his recovery," he said when asked about Philbin's fitness.

"It will be a live situation through the week for us.

"We’ll give him every chance but essentially, I’ll need him at 100 per cent to play."

Burgess confirmed that, as things stand, The Wire have emerged from their Round 27 victory with no fresh injury worries.

That includes full-back Matt Dufty, who played around 70 minutes on his return following a month out due to knee surgery.

"I’ve not had a full debrief with the medical team but on first glance, everyone seems okay," he said.

"There’s a couple of sore guys down there but everyone is going to be bumped and bruised at this time of the year.

"We’ve got three weeks to hang in there and give it our best shot.

"He (Dufty) was okay – I said pre-game that I didn’t expect him to carve it up straight away as he’s not done a great deal for four weeks.

"He looked lively and elusive on the ball, he was getting his timing back in his combinations.

"He’ll be much better for it next week and it was good to have his character back in the dressing room.

"He just wanted to get a bit of that game fitness back in his legs.

"The plan was to play him for 60 minutes – he didn’t want to come off at the end but I had to flex on him."

Burgess also reaffirmed that second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon's season was over after he underwent surgery to repair a shoulder injury earlier this week.

The Australian has been plagued by injuries in the second half of the year, picking up a back issue in the Challenge Cup Final before lasting just 10 minutes of his return to the team against Huddersfield in July after sustaining his current shoulder issue.

His return lasted just two games before he aggravated the problem in the win over St Helens earlier this month but now, his focus is on returning at full tilt for next year.

"He won’t play for the rest of the year," Burgess said of Fitzgibbon.

"He had surgery earlier this week to repair a bit of damage in there – the surgeon is a bit of a genius in the shoulders, so he’s given him every opportunity to get back playing his best rugby.

"We’ll see Lachie next year."