South Sydney Rabbitohs head coach Wayne Bennett has confirmed yet more injuries in his spine after Sunday afternoon's loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Already down on troops with five-eighth Cody Walker and hooker Peter Mamouzelos missing to injuries, and Latrell Mitchell away on State of Origin duty, the Rabbitohs will now likely be without Jayden Sullivan and Jye Gray in the coming weeks.
That follows news Keaon Koloamatangi likely has a fractured eye socket, causing him to pull out of State of Origin camp ahead of Game 2 for the New South Wales Blues, and be forced into a sideline stint of his own.
Bennett revealed after Sunday's game that Gray has a broken thumb, and Sullivan has suffered a calf injury.
"He's [Jayden Sullivan] done on his calf muscle, Jye Gray's broken his thumb โ that was at halftime โ so he's gone for six weeks and Keaon may have fractured his eye socket, so he'll be gone for a while too by the looks of it," Bennett said.
Return timelines for the duo are yet to be determined, but Gray will miss a month and a half in the best-case scenario, while even a minor calf strain will see Sullivan spend a week or two on the sidelines. More serious versions of a calf injury could see him missing for months.
Walker is still at least one, if not two, weeks away for South Sydney, meaning Lewis Dodd is likely to earn another NRL opportunity by partnering former Manly junior Jamie Humphreys in the halves next week.
He may yet be overlooked, though, with Jack Wighton another option for coach Bennett, who has struggled to get his team to fire this season amid an awful injury crisis.
Koloamatangi in the middle will likely be replaced by Sean Keppie, who served as the 18th man on Sunday.
