Scans have revealed New Zealand Warriors captain Steve Price will be sidelined for eight weeks with a hamstring tear.

It is not only a body blow for the Warriors' 2008 NRL campaign.

It also all but rules Price out of Queensland's opening Origin clash at Sydney on May 21.

Price, 34, lasted just 17 minutes before limping off with a left hamstring injury in New Zealand's Monday night loss at Melbourne.

Team doctor John Mayhew said scans revealed a "significant tear".

He said Price was pencilled in for a mid-May NRL return.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said Price would be missed but believed his side had the depth to cover the huge loss.

"It looked like Steve would be facing some time on the sideline after he left the field on Monday night," he said.

"It's obviously a blow for us but we have three experienced props in Ruben (Wiki), Evarn (Tuimavave) and Sam (Rapira) in our squad."

Former Kiwi skipper Wiki was on Tuesday brought back into the starting line-up for Sunday's match against Parramatta at Mt Smart Stadium.

He also takes over the captaincy from Price.

Price's injury throws another spanner in the works for Queensland Origin selectors.

The Maroons were rocked on Tuesday when they learned Queensland enforcer Neville Costigan faced up to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering a quad injury in Canberra's first round loss at Newcastle.

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