Penrith Panthers centre Izack Tago was injured late in his side's dramatic loss against the South Sydney Rabbitohs last Thursday, with the Sydney Morning Herald now reporting that he suffered an injury to his pectoral muscle that could see him out for six weeks.
The report states Tago got the injury when attempting to tackle Michael Chee-Kam in the 77th minute, not long before Isaiah Tass won the game for the Rabbitohs.
If Tago is out, it'll be another blow to a Panthers outside back lineup already playing without young gun Taylan May for the season after he tore his ACL in the World Club Challenge against St Helens.
The Panthers currently have three players who appear to be logical replacements for Tago in their top thirty, including a player with almost 200 games of experience in Tyrone Peachy.
There's also the 22-year-old Tom Jenkins, who debuted for the club last year against the Cowboys, and teenager Jesse McLean who is yet to play in the NRL but was recently promoted to the top 30 to be available to Panthers coach Ivan Cleary.
Tago's injury will be compounded further over the origin period, where his side can potentially lose a host of stars, including Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin.
The immediate future will also be troubling, as the 3rd-place Panthers are tied on points with the Sydney Roosters in 9th place, with all the teams between being on 10 points.
They also have to contend with facing the New Zealand Warriors, Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos within the next four weeks, making it a bad time to lose any players.
However, their first game without Tago will be a decent chance for whoever will replace him as the Panthers take on the struggling Wests Tigers in the final Saturday night game at 7:35 PM AEST.
