The Bay of Plenty Steamers have revealed just how much their season has been derailed by the injury toll they've suffered, particularly to key players.

They go into their clash tomorrow night with Otago in Dunedin needing nothing less than a win to keep their distant hopes of making the Mitre 10 Cup championship division semi-finals alive.

After five straight losses they find themselves outside the top four playoff positions in fifth on the table with 10 points, trailing tomorrow night's opponents by 10, and 11 behind third-placed Northland, with a maximum of 15 points available from their remaining three matches.

Though, Steamers head coach Clayton McMillan has never been keen to use the injury toll as an excuse for their struggles, the task of beating the in-form Otago tomorrow night and keeping themselves in the playoffs hunt has not been eased by the mounting list of players on the treatment table.

Particularly hard-hitting has been the loss of star first five-eight Mike Delany. The veteran former All Black suffered a pectoral tear during the loss to North Harbour on September 16, and it's now been confirmed he will need surgery and is gone for the season.

His loss meant an opportunity for Jason Robertson to step up in the 10 jersey in the September 21 Waikato defeat, but he was gone almost as soon as he arrived, fracturing a fibular in last Thursday's loss to Manawatu. Recovery time for this is up to six weeks, so he too will not be back this year.

Prop Solomona Sakalia and wing Mathew Garland were also casualties of the Manawatu match – Sakalia with a partial tear of his achilles tendon and Garland suffering a hamstring tear. It's not known how long they will be out but neither is expected to be available tomorrow night.

Earlier in the season newly-named skipper Liam Polwart was ruled out with a recurrence of his neck injury. The hooker originally picked up the knock during the Super Rugby season with the Chiefs.

All this comes on top of the losses of frontline squad members Lalakai Foketi, Aidan Ross, Seb Siataga, and Tom McHugh, who were all ruled out before the season even kicked off due to injuries picked up in Super Rugby or the pre-season campaign.

With the loss of Delany and the irregular availability of veteran loose forward Tanerau Latimer, who returned from his extensive OE for this season, a good deal of crucial on-field experience has been denied to the team, which has also had its effect on their performances.