Manly have been dealt a major blow on the eve of finals, with the star fullback Tom Trbojevic suffering a likely season-ending pectoral injury in Saturday night's loss to the Storm.
The 22-year old ruptured the muscle while trying to tackle Melbourne's Josh Addo-Carr, and after trying to play on, was forced to exit the game just two minutes later.
Scans will determine the extent of the injury, but Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler was not expecting good news.
"It doesn't look good for Tom. It looks like it's a ruptured pec," Hasler told NRL Media post-match.
"You'd think that kind of injury would be season ending given the time we've got left. We'll go through the usual procedures but it's a ruptured pec.
"The time of the year it's disappointing, he's such a classy player. To now miss the finals series. He'd be disappointed about that.
"It's been one of those years for him, it's just unfortunate the footy gods work that way but he's young and will get enough opportunity."
Trbojevic was not the only Sea Eagle to go down on the night, with forward Morgan Boyle also at risk of missing the rest of the season with a shoulder issue.
"We've got a couple of serious injuries on the back of that," Hasler said.
"Our depth is already tested. The timing is the tough thing for the club. The side has showed all year that they're resilient and someone will come in."
The loss will make it tough for Manly to secure a top-four finish ahead of next week's clash against Parramatta.
"We'll have to do better than tonight," Hasler said. "They were very clinical, very composed with the ball and we made too many errors with the ball.
"It's something we can fix. We need to address that quick smart. The players are disappointed especially with how many fans.
I don't think it was the occasion. Melbourne didn't have to do too much tonight."