Leaving the field with a groin injury against the Sydney Roosters, NSW Blues and Kangaroos fullback Dylan Edwards is set to spend time on the sidelines in what is a significant blow to the Penrith Panthers.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald's Michael Chammas, scans have confirmed that Edwards has sustained a groin strain and will spend at least two to three weeks on the sidelines.
In his absence, Daine Laurie will move to the vacant fullback position, while either Blaize Talagi or Brad Schneider is likely to be promoted to the interchange bench after spending the week in the NSW Cup.
"He just had a bit of a groin strain," Panthers coach Ivan Cleary originally said on Friday night.
"He could have kept playing but just the way the game was and what we needed at the time, we had a fresh fullback sitting on the bench, that is why we made that call."
The injury couldn't have come at a worse time for the Panthers who face the Melbourne Storm on Thursday night in a rematch of the 2024 Grand Final.
Continuing the misery, the Storm will be fresh off a bye and 56-18 performance in Round 1 which saw the spine of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant fire on all cylinders.
โThat game was lost before we got here, I think for whatever reason,โ Cleary said after losing to the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, which many considered to be one of the biggest upsets of the modern-era.
โWe never got here thinking we were going to be perfect, and that's never something we talk about.
โEven in the first round, we weren't perfect at all. But we just weren't, there's enough players tonight that weren't anywhere near their best and collectively we just didn't play anywhere near what we'd like to, so that should have been better than what we tossed up tonight.โ
