The Melbourne Storm are hopeful star halfback Jahrome Hughes will be available for Week 1 of the NRL finals series after suffering a knee injury on Saturday.
Hughes failed to complete the victory over the Gold Coast Titans, being taken from the field with a knee injury.
The Storm were immediately hopeful that the injury would only be a minor medial problem, and it has been confirmed that way after scans showed Hughes would not be out for a prolonged period of time.
The New Zealand international star will however miss Thursday night's Round 27 clash with the Brisbane Broncos as he now races the clock to be fit for Week 1 of the finals, where the Storm will play a qualifying final with a double chance guaranteed.
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"Scans have revealed Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes suffered a minor medial ligament sprain in his knee during Storm's Round 26 win over the Titans yesterday," the Storm wrote in a statement on Sunday evening.
"The New Zealand international will miss Thursday night's meeting with the Broncos, Storm's final game of the regular season but is expected to be available for the first week of finals."
Whether the Storm will play their qualifying final on Friday or Saturday evening in Week 1 of the finals remains to be seen, with the NRL to confirm finals fixtures after the completion of Round 27, which still has plenty of fluctuation to the final ladder available.
In his place, Jonah Pezet would be expected to fill the number seven jumper, however, he also has an injury concern after playing just 12 minutes for the Brisbane Tigers in their sudden-death knockout QLD Cup match on the weekend.
Zero Tackle has reached out to the Storm for comment on the extent of Pezet's injury.
If he is ruled out of Round 27, then the Storm may well elect to move Nick Meaney to the halves with Ryan Papenhuyzen taking over the number one jersey after making a successful return to the top grade in the clash against the Gold Coast.
