New South Wales Blues and Canterbury Bulldogs winger Josh Addo-Carr is believed to have suffered a hamstring injury in the final minutes of Game 3 of the 2023 State of Origin series.
The Blues' winger was taken out of the game after 77 minutes, allowing Clint Gutherson onto the park for a brief cameo after he was a surprise inclusion on the bench as part of Blues' coach Brad Fittler's seven changes.
Fittler, by his own admission during the week, didn't have a concrete plan for Gutherson.
However, according to Channel 9 during the game, Addo-Carr wasn't just taken from the field to give Gutherson a run but suffered a hamstring injury.
NSW coach Brad Fittler said post-game that he thought Addo-Carr was "alright" despite the concern.
He was seen on the bench with an ice pack on, although the severity of the injury is unclear. The Bulldogs will need to wait for scans until a proper assessment can be made of how long the star may spend on the sidelines.
Even a low-grade hamstring injury typically requires at least a week to heal, meaning Addo-Carr is almost certain to miss this week's game against the Brisbane Broncos at Belmore, where a big crowd is expected as the club farewells Josh Reynolds, who will retire following a NSW Cup contest earlier in the day.
The Bulldogs then take on the Penrith Panthers in Round 21 and the Dolphins in Round 22. If it's a low-grade injury, he could return for either of those games, but a more severe hamstring injury would leave him ruled out for potentially the remainder of the season, which has just eight weeks to go.
Canterbury is next to no chance of qualifying for the finals and would likely need to win six of their last eight at a minimum to do so, having only won 6 of their 17 games so far this year.
After a poor showing in each of the first two Origin games, Addo-Carr was among the best for the Blues during Game 3, scoring a try and running for 134 metres to go with a number of tackle busts.
