Jayden Brailey’s Achilles injury is likely causing some major headaches at Knights headquarters right about now.

The co-captain will undergo surgery this week after tearing his Achilles in a non-impact drill at training over the weekend.

It’s a cruel blow for the 25-year-old who missed every game except two in 2020 after suffering an ACL injury.

He returned last season to be one of Newcastle’s best. Now he faces four to six months on the sidelines as the Knights scramble to figure out their next move.

The No.9 jersey is up for grabs and coach Adam O’Brien has a big decision to make: go to market or put his faith in what he has already.

Chris Randall was Brailey’s understudy last year and seems like the obvious option to replace him if the club doesn’t buy another hooker.

Randall, a Newcastle junior, has 12 NRL games to his name, including his memorable debut in 2020 when he made a staggering 68 tackles — and only missed two.

The 26-year-old was upgraded to the Top 30 after inking a two-year extension in November.

He missed the end of last season with a broken thumb, which he had surgery on but will be ready to go for Round 1.

In there perfect world, Randall would play 80 minutes every week, never get suspended and have an injury-free season. But the NRL world is far from perfect.

This is where Connor Watson really would have came in handy, but he’s back at the Roosters now after the Knights failed to lock him in on a new deal.

Kurt Mann is the next cab off the rank and will be on deck to relieve Randall or fill in if he gets injured. The 28-year-old’s role as a utility will be more important this year than ever before.

Assuming new recruit Adam Clune partners Jake Clifford in the halves, Phoenix Crossland is also an option at hooker.

Crossland is naturally a half but he had a taste of hooker in 2020 when he was used as a bench utility.

O’Brien did reveal plans to develop the 21-year-old into a ball-playing lock in the wake of Watson’s departure.

“One of the things I like about him the most is his toughness,” he said in October.

“He’s bulked up now, he’s a strong defender, he’s physical and brave and through necessity more than anything over the past couple of seasons, he’s had to become versatile.

“Phoenix is one of those players we could even look at developing in the off-season to play that first receiver lock role that players like Isaah Yeo, Victor Radley and Cam Murray play.”

But perhaps those plans will change to using him as a back-up hooker first.

The Knights were in this exact position a couple of weeks into the 2020 season when Brailey tore his ACL.

They chose to sign veteran hooker Andrew McCullough for the remainder of the season — and perhaps they’ll go down the same path again. They have three spots left in their Top 30 so it’s at least an idea worth entertaining.

What made the McCullough deal run smoothly was the fact that Jake Turpin had leapfrogged him as the Broncos’ first-choice hooker.

Given Brailey is a captain and a big part of the Knights’ future, the club won’t be offering any multi-year deals to top-tier hookers and leaving Brailey out in the cold.

Instead, they’d need to secure a quality hooker that would also benefit from a one-year deal — or an up-and-coming hooker that they can see value in keeping for more than just one season.