The Blues and the Panthers will be sweating on the fitness of star halfback Nathan Cleary after he went off early against the Dragons with a hamstring injury.

A low grade hamstring injury would be a recovery time of two to four weeks, which will have him racing the clock to be fit for Origin II in 17 days.

“He is coming from the field with a hamstring injury,” Shane Flanagan said on Fox League.

“He looks in a bit of distress with his left hamstring.”

“This is a huge story,” Warren Smith said.

“This is a big problem of course for the Panthers here tonight, but down the track to NSW in game two at Suncorp Stadium.

“He hobbled and skipped back into the defensive line on one leg and that’s not a minor tweak by the looks of things.

“That looks like he has done a pretty good job on it right there.

“17 days to Origin II and his chances of playing in that game are 1000 to one.”

Jake Duke confirmed the hamstring injury with the Panthers medical staff, who will await the results of scans on Monday.

“I spoke to the Panthers medical staff and Nathan Cleary is not coming back tonight,” Duke said.

“It is a hamstring and he will get scans tomorrow. They are hopeful it is a low grade hamstring injury, which would be great news for everyone the Blues included, but they will have to wait on what those scans tell them.”

DRAGONS LOSE DE BELIN TO BRUTAL HEAD KNOCK

The Dragons could be without Jack de Belin for an extended stint after he was stretchered off after a sickening head knock against the Panthers.

De Belin copped a knock to the head attempting a tackle and play was stopped for several minutes while the medical staff attended to him and he was eventually stretchered off the field.

Luckily, the Dragons forward recovered and returned to the sideline, but he will be ruled out for the 11 day madatory period at least and potentially for a few games to look after his welfare.

SOUTHS LOSE SKIPPER TO GROIN INJURY

The Rabbitohs and NSW will be sweating on a groin injury to Souths skipper Cameron Murray that saw him come off against the Titans.

“The injury update on Cameron Murray doesn’t look good for NSW and South Sydney,” Corey Parker said.

“It is actually a groin issue. He felt a little pull and he is tight in the groin, so a soft tissue injuries can be quite menacing. He won’t be back tonight.”

SOUTHS, MAROONS SWEAT ON ENFORCER’S ANKLE

The Queensland Maroons suffered an injury blow on Wednesday when Tom Gilbert dislocated his shoulder midway through the opening half.

But now coach Billy Slater may also need to find a replacement for interchange forward Jai Arrow after he was helped from the field in Saturday’s game against the Gold Coast.

Arrow came down awkwardly in a tackle as Gold Coast hooker Chris Randall brought him to the ground, with the Rabbitohs forward appearing to injure his ankle in the process.

Arrow failed his subsequent fitness test and was ruled out for the remainder of the game, with scans to determine the full extent of his injury.

“A sad sight for Rabbitohs and potentially Maroons fans,” Warren Smith said in commentary as Arrow sat on the bench with a moon boot.

Corey Parker later confirmed on the sideline for Fox League that Arrow had suffered a suspected syndesmosis injury.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Bunnies coach Jason Demetriou claimed the back of Arrow’s ankle “just jammed up” and skipper Cameron Murray entered the game “with a bit of a tight groin” and “didn’t want to risk him.”

Murray also revealed he went into the game with the lingering effects of a bruising Origin contest but expected it to wear off early.

“I was just a bit sore and tight,” Murray said.

“I thought it was just a bit of tightness and thought after 5-10 minutes it would have warmed up.

“But it got a bit sore during the game and there was a tackle when I overstretched it a bit, hoping for a good result.”

‘PRETTY STRONG GROUNDS’: MANLY QUERY TURBO CALL

The Manly Sea Eagles have queried the NRL over the diagnosis of a Category 1 concussion for Tom Trbojevic in a move that could see the star fullback play next weekend.

Trbojevic was ruled out of the remainder of the series opener in Adelaide after a high shot from Maroons forward Tom Flegler in the 68th minute saw him forced from the field.

The Blues centre was said to have shown Category 1 concussion symptoms and as a result was set to be subject to the NRL’s 11-day stand-down policy.

That in turn would rule Trbojevic out of contention to play in Manly’s game against the Dolphins next Friday night.

A report from The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio though claims Manly believes Trbojevic has been misdiagnosed. Riccio expanded on that report while speaking on Triple M Saturday.

“The Manly Sea Eagles are seeking some confirmation and clarity from the NRL,” Riccio said on ‘The Saturday Scrum’.

“Now on the night, the on-field doctor for the Blues categorised it as a Category 2 concussion yet the independent doctor in the Bunker, which is based here in Sydney, categorised it as a Category 1 concussion.

“Now it’s all symptom-related as far as all those categories are concerned and the reason for the Category 1 decision by the independent doctor, I understand, is because Tom stayed down momentarily.

“The Manly Sea Eagles and the Blues are using the evidence of what the NSW doctor described as a Category 2 with no concussion symptoms and again in the last 24 hours he has had follow-up assessments done and again no concussion symptoms.

“They’re taking that to the NRL and the purpose of this is for Tom to play next Friday against the Dolphins for Manly. At this point in time he’s facing a mandatory 11-day stand-down.

“The Manly Sea Eagles play in nine days’ time.”

Riccio stressed that Manly is not going to risk Trbojevic and will not name the fullback for Friday’s game if the NRL determine he did indeed show Category 1 symptoms.

Instead, the Sea Eagles simply are exercising their right to ask the question, with the NRL confirming it has received communication from the club over the ruling.

“They want to be able to use him. It’s obviously huge for the Sea Eagles given his star power but obviously for the NSW Blues because it will give him an opportunity to play before the Origin II team is selected,” Riccio said.

“Manly believe they’ve got pretty strong grounds.”

Sea Eagles forward Aaron Woods, who was also on Triple M on Saturday afternoon, confirmed the approach to the NRL had been discussed by the club.

“The doctor who does a lot of the HIA things is Dr. Paul Bloomfield, who is our doctor at Manly now. He was the former NRL chief medical doctor... and he doesn’t agree it was a Category 1,” Woods said.

“We spoke about it at the club today and I think they’re trying to get Tom to play next Friday but it needs to be cleared by the NRL first.”

INJURED ROUND 14

Rocco Berry (head knock) — TBC

Jai Arrow (ankle) — TBC

Cameron Murray (groin) — TBC

Nathan Cleary (hamstring) — TBC

Jack de Belin (concussion) — TBC

FULL CASUALTY WARD

BRONCOS

Selwyn Cobbo (hip) — Round 15

RAIDERS

Corey Harawira-Naera (head knock) — indefinite

Elliott Whitehead (suspension) — Round 15

Adrian Trevilyan (shoulder/knee) — mid-season

BULLDOGS

Raymond Faitala-Mariner (illness) — Round 15

Braidon Burns (knee) — Round 15

Luke Thompson (foot) — Round 16

Bailey Biondi-Odo (knee) — Round 21

Viliame Kikau (pectoral) — Round 22

 

SHARKS

Cameron McInnes (hand) — Round 16

Toby Rudolf (foot) — Round 18

Kade Dykes (knee) — season

DOLPHINS

Jack Bostock (nose) — Round 15

Sean O’Sullivan (pectoral) — Round 16-18

Felise Kaufusi (suspension) — Round 17

 

TITANS

Kieran Foran (toe) — Round 17

AJ Brimson (hamstring) — Round 17

Jaimin Jolliffe (pectoral) — Round 17

Aaron Booth (knee) — indefinite

Beau Fermor (knee) — season

 

SEA EAGLES

Josh Aloiai (shoulder) — Round 15

Aaron Woods (thumb) — Round 17

Kelma Tuilagi (facial fracture) — Round 18

Jake Trbojevic (calf) — Round 19

Ben Trbojevic (hamstring) — indefinite

 

STORM

George Jennings (hamstring) — Round 15

Jack Howarth (shoulder) — Round 15

Jonah Pezet (collarbone) — Round 17

Ryan Papenhuyzen (knee) — indefinite

Dean Ieremia (knee) — season

KNIGHTS

Krystian Mapapalangi (shoulder) — indefinite

Jayden Brailey (knee) — season

COWBOYS

Murray Taulagi (head knock) — TBC

James Tamou (foot) — indefinite

Tom Chester (knee) — season

EELS

Andrew Davey (head knock) — Round 15

Ryan Matterson (leg) — Round 16

Reagan Campbell-Gillard (groin) — Round 17

Shaun Lane (hamstring) — Round 19

Joe Ofahengaue (calf) — TBC

PANTHERS

Nathan Cleary (hamstring) — TBC

Izack Tago (pectoral) — Round 14

Spencer Leniu (testicle) — Round 14

Matt Eisenhuth (shoulder) — Round 14

Taylan May (knee) — season

 

RABBITOHS

Cameron Murray (groin) — TBC

Jai Arrow (ankle) — TBC

Latrell Mitchell (calf) — Round 15

Siliva Havili (ankle) — mid-season

DRAGONS

Jack de Belin (concussion) — TBC

Blake Lawrie (fractured hand) — TBC

Tautau Moga (shoulder) — Round 14

Jaydn Su’A (knee) — Round 14

Jack Bird (rested) — TBC

Tyrell Fuimaono (hip) — indefinite

Cody Ramsey (illness) — season

 

ROOSTERS

Daniel Tupou (hamstring) — Round 15

Sam Walker (knee) — Round 16

Victor Radley (suspension) — Round 17

Brandon Smith (thumb) — Round 19

Connor Watson (knee) — Round 20

Paul Momirovski (shoulder) — Round 22

WARRIORS

Rocco Berry (head knock) — TBC

Freddy Lussick (concussion) — Round 15

Te Maire Martin (leg) — Round 15

Edward Kosi (knee) — Round 16

Jazz Tevaga (leg) — indefinite

Valingi Kepu (foot) — season

TIGERS

Charlie Staines (stomach) — indefinite

Adam Doueihi (knee) — season