Farah's transition into the cardinal and myrtle of the Rabbitohs, who will host the Tigers in an opening-round blockbuster, suffered a setback during pre-season when he sustained the injury.

But the 32-year-old has opted against going under the knife in order not to hinder his hopes of making his South Sydney debut on March 3 against his old club.

The Friday night showdown is destined to be a ratings hit for Channel Nine on the opening weekend of the season after Farah was squeezed out of the Tigers at the end of the 2016 season.

The State of Origin rake sat on the old scoreboard on the Leichhardt Oval hill for hours after the Tigers were knocked out of finals contention in a last-round walloping, a game in which he watched from the stands. He completed a lap of honour at half-time.

But having now linked with the club where his brother Eddie is physiotherapist, Farah has told those close to him he will be fit for the clash against the Tigers despite the serious injury.

The Tigers will foot the majority of Farah's 2017 salary as Jason Taylor clears the decks for the joint venture, who have the club's four highest profile players in captain Aaron Woods, James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks coming off contract at the end of 2017.

Farah is expected to be a key cog of Laurie Daley and Peter Sterling's plans to wrest State of Origin supremacy back off Queensland given the Blues will be without skipper Paul Gallen, who has hung up his representative boots.

Having granted the highly rated Cameron McInnes an early release from his contract, the Rabbitohs will be desperate to have Farah fit for the first month of the season having emerged from a mid-season slide to finish 2016 strongly.

South Sydney refused to entertain the prospect letting Damien Cook find a rival club even given Farah's imminent arrival a few months ago, extending Cook's contract until the end of 2019.

The pair could form a formidable combination in the No.9 role for the Rabbitohs, who have been saddled with the most number of five-day turnarounds during the first 20 rounds of the season.

Farah's ugly split from the Tigers came after he was originally contracted until the end of 2017 and was the result of a strained relationship with Taylor.

Farah was banished to the bench in round 14 and didn't feature in the top grade again after the State of Origin series, despite being feted during an Intrust Super Premiership match at Leichhardt during his time away from the NRL squad.

He finished his Tigers career on 247 games.