Max King has already emerged as one of the bravest stories of the round after playing through a broken jaw during his team's outstanding win against the Panthers.
The Bulldogs forward continued for 24 minutes after the incident, briefly leaving the field following a heavy collision before returning to the contest.
The injury occurred in the eighth minute after a high shot from Casey McLean, which led to McLean being sin-binned for 10 minutes and later handed a 1–2 match suspension.
Despite the severity of the contact, King produced a committed performance for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, finishing the match with 13 runs for 103 metres and 36 tackles, missing just one.
Bulldogs CEO Phil Warburton confirmed the extent of the injury to News Corp, revealing post-match scans had uncovered a fracture.
"Max has had scans on his jaw, and it shows there's a break in there, which is far from ideal,'' Warburton said.
"Clearly, this is just another indication of Max's toughness and what his teammates mean to him by playing in one of the toughest positions on the field with a significant injury.
"One thing we know about Max also is he's loaded with resilience, having come back from injury before, so no doubt he'll be pushing to get back as soon as he's fit and able."
King is now expected to miss up to four weeks as he recovers from the broken jaw, a significant blow for the Bulldogs as they continue their campaign.
Sitili Tupouniua is expected to start in the forwards, with Lipoi Hopoi moving up to a top-four bench position and Logan Spinks sitting on as the extra man. However, an early return from Leo Thompson could be on the cards, suggesting a straight swap.
