He played Australian Schoolboys with James Tedesco and David Klemmer, attended the same high school as Jarryd Hayne and Israel Folau, and now Jacob Gagan has the job of filling in for Greg Inglis at one of the game's biggest clubs, South Sydney.

Gagan, 26, trained at left centre on Wednesday as Inglis was struck down by a virus and was nowhere to be seen at Redfern.

Big shoes to fill: South Sydney's Jacob Gagan at training on Wednesday.

He will make his debut for Souths against Manly on Saturday and was quickly endorsed by his Souths teammates to get the job done and add to his NRL tally of eight games in five years.

The dodgy Brookvale surface was also inspected by Souths on Wednesday as the Herald learnt a top curator from ANZ Stadium had been working with local northern beaches officials to make sure the turf had improved.