The Melbourne Storm will be without star five-eighth Cameron Munster for at least the next eight to ten weeks as he recovers from a groin injury.
Munster has been dealing with the injury and complaint throughout the season, but aggravated the injury yesterday during a win over the Parramatta Eels at Magic Round.
The Storm have now confirmed that, after seeking independent medical adivce, he will need between eight and ten weeks to return to the park without surgery.
“Cameron had scans earlier today which showed a tear in the adductor tendon,” Melbourne's head of football Frank Ponissi said in a club statement confirming the news.
“Our club doctor sought independent medical advice and we decided to take the conservative approach through treatment and rehabilitation without the need for surgery.”
“While it is obviously disappointing for both Cameron and the club to be missing football at this stage of the season, we are confident this approach will give him the best chance of recovery in the long term.”
It was revealed by Craig Bellamy in yesterday's post-match press conference that if Munster had of needed surgery, he would likely have missed the remainder of the season.
Munster's absence is a big blow for the Storm, who have also already lost Jonah Pezet for the remainder of the season to an ACL injury.
The star five-eighth will now likely be replaced by Tyran Wishart, who has spent recent weeks at halfback replacing Jahrome Hughes. The New Zealand international is due to return this week, but the Storm will now be sweating on him staying fit.
It also means Munster will miss the State of Origin series, with his Queensland number six jumper now likely to land with either Tom Dearden or Ezra Mam.