Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy has admitted centre Jack Howarth could miss the remainder of the season, pending on the severity of his shoulder dislocation.
The youngster, who has been impressive this year for Melbourne, was taken from the field during the first half of Friday's surprise loss to the Dolphins in excruciating pain.
It was revealed afterwards he had dislocated his shoulder, and Bellamy said regardless of the return timeline, he will be looking at an extended stint without action.
โHe'll be out for an extended time but if he has an operation it'll be the season I think,โ Bellamy said during his post-match press conference, which came after Melbourne raced out to a 16-2 lead, only to conceed 40 straight points.
The coach said he believed the shoulder was relocated quickly, which could help his cause.
โHe'll try and rehab it and see how it goes from there, I don't think it was out for too long so that's a plus. We'll see what the medical team thinks, but it's a bad injury," Bellamy added.
Even if Howarth does return without injury, he would likely be looking at a number of weeks out, before returning with an added risk of re-injuring the shoulder.
He joins an already long list of injuries in the outside backs for Melbourne, with Nick Meaney still missing, Will Warbrick battling concussion symptons, and Moses Leo also going down with a shoulder injury last weekend.
โWill (Warbrick) is a head thing so it's hard to know with that and I think (Nick) Meaney is still another couple of weeks away," Bellamy said.
"Moses Leo last week, he had a shoulder operation during the week and he's going to be out for three months.
โIt's been a tough time, injury-wise, that's no excuse for tonight but we are running short in the outside backs.โ
A perplexed Bellamy was at a loss for words to describe his team's performance on Friday evening, but will now have to head even further down his roster to find a replacement for Howarth.
Sua Fa'alogo, who was named to play last night but moved to 18th man, will almost certainly feature in the centres next weekend in a backline which also consists of Ryan Papenhuyzen at fullback, Kane Bradley and Xavier Coates on the wings, and Grant Anderson at centre.
