Gold Coast Titans star fullback Keano Kini has revealed he could have been paralyzed had he copped another bad hit.
Kini has been ruled out for a number of months, with neck surgery to take place this week.
The Titans initially were unclear on the length of time he would be out, and still are in the most part given the nature of the recovery from the injury will not be straightforward.
Kini, speaking to News Corp, revealed he has a herniated disc in his verterbrae that was pushing into his spinal cord. Another bad hit could have left him paralyzed.
โI'm pretty lucky, it could have been a lot worse,โ Kini told the publication.
โThe doc said if I copped another bad hit I could have been paralysed, so I feel blessed to have found this out now before something really serious happened.
โI have a herniation of my disc in between my vertebrae, it was pushing into my spinal cord, so they are going to take that out and fuse the bones together."
Estimates over a return for Kini have ranged from three to five months, with the fullback potentially lucky to be fit again this season.
Kini said he believes the hit happened initially while he was playing for New Zealand last year, with the right side of his body going numb. It happened again this year against the Knights, and he decided to get an MRI which revealed the true extent of the damage.
โThey originally said I'll be back around the Origin period but I really doubt that. Anything can happen with your neck, so I'm not going to rush anything," Kini said on his recovery.
โI'm focused on my health first rather than coming back to footy this year. Obviously, I'd love to be back this year, but if not, I will take my time to get back to my full potential."
The injury leaves the Titans without their first-choice fullback for the coming months.
Given AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell are building a new halves combination, coach Des Hasler elected not to mess with that and instead elected to play Jaylan de Groot against the Sydney Roosters this weekend.
The youngster, who is set to weigh up his own contract options this year as he searches for an opportunity to become a first-grade fullback, didn't waste his first of many oppportunities to put himself in the shop window, and Des Hasler said post-game that he was impressed with the way De Groot played.
The Titans have started the season with two wins from their first three games and clash with the Dolphins at home next weekend.
