Stand-in Newcastle skipper Steve Simpson and veteran centre Adam MacDougall are both out of Saturday night's vital NRL match against Cronulla due to injury.

Simpson rolled his ankle at training earlier in the week and failed to complete a fitness test. His place in the squad will be taken by 18th man Mark Taufua with Chris Houston likely to come into the run-on side.

NSW Cup utility Marvin Karawana comes into the centre to replace MacDougall, who has failed to recover from a calf strain picked up in last week's win over Penrith.

In-form playmaker Kurt Gidley will take over the captaincy in place of Simpson.

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