Warrington and Huddersfield have both ruled players out of Saturday's Carnegie Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

The Wolves will be without utility player Simon Grix, who is to have shoulder surgery later this week, while the Giants must cope without second rower Danny Kirmond because of a season-ending knee injury.

While Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown will make just one change to his semi-final line-up, his opposite number Tony Smith admits he is unlikely to be able to finalise his team until Friday's pre-Wembley walkabout at the earliest.

Grix, who played in the Wolves' earlier Cup wins over York, Featherstone and Hull KR, joins winger Brian Carney, prop Paul Wood and hooker Mickey Higham as definite absentees for the club's first Cup final appearance for 19 years.

Smith will also check on the fitness later in the week of hooker Jon Clarke, who is nursing a long-term ankle injury, loose forward Ben Harrison, centre Matt King, back rower Vinnie Anderson and 20-year-old prop Mike Cooper.

"Grix will probably have to have an operation in the next few days so he's out of contention," Smith told a joint news conference in Manchester. "We've got a few others back in contention.

"We're not in the best shape we'd like to be but that's part of the challenge. We've got a lot of experienced people who have been in big games and know how to handle those situations.

"We'll tap into those resources before we make some decisions later in the week."

Brown, who has guided Huddersfield to their first Wembley appearance for 47 years in his first season at the Galpharm Stadium, has decided on his team but is not yet ready to show his hand.

Kirmond, who scored the Giants' match-winning try in their quarter-final against Castleford, suffered a cruciate ligament injury during Huddersfield's 12-10 Super League defeat at St Helens on Friday and will undergo re-constructive surgery.

"We're all really disappointed for Danny," said Brown. "He's had a good year and would definitely have been part of our Wembley plans.

"He played a big role in us getting there and that's on the back of all the other good things he's done for us so consistently. We all feel for him."

Favourite to take Kirmond's place at Wembley is Andy Raleigh, who made his comeback at Knowsley Road after a two-month lay-off with an Achilles injury, but Brown says Simon Finnigan and Martin Aspinwall, a winger-turned-forward, are also in contention.

Brown said: "Andy has had only one game back after being out for 10 weeks, Simon has been playing good, consistent footie and Aspy has been going really well since moving into the forwards.

"All three in their own right deserve to play but only one can which is unfortunate for the guys that miss out."

Finnigan was placed on report for an alleged late tackle in Friday's game but was today told by the Rugby Football League's match review panel that he has no case to answer.

Kirmond was one of only six members of Huddersfield's Cup semi-final winning side to feature at St Helens as Brown took the decision to "moth-ball" his key men.

Loose forward Stephen Wild was the most serious of the injury concerns after hurting a knee in the 28-18 home defeat by Bradford eight days ago but Brown says all the absentees will be fit to play.

Smith, whose side are in danger of missing out on the top-eight play-offs, insists he is not concerned about not having the luxury of being able to rest players.

"It would have been nice to have had the option but we've been toughing it out for a little while now and that can harden you up for the big games," he said.

After going into the semi-final with holders St Helens on the back of a six-match winning run, Huddersfield have suffered back-to-back defeats in the League, but Brown has drawn encouragement from advice by former Saints coach Daniel Anderson, who guided his side to a hat-trick of Cup final victories.

"All the sides that played in the semi-finals played quite poorly the week after," said Brown. "I spoke to Daniel Anderson and he warned me what was going to happen.

"They don't consciously do it but players in the first half against Bradford should probably have been sitting with me in the stand. People didn't want to get hurt.

"We played better in the second half against Bradford and we looked at the weekend as a victory for us."