Canterbury Bulldogs star centre Stephen Crichton will miss next Thursday's clash with the Penrith Panthers after suffering a suspected high grade AC joint injury during Good Friday's loss against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Crichton was assisted from the field furing the second half after staying down, with the point of his shoulder making contact with the ground in an awkward-looking tackle.
"It's not looking great in there," head coach Cameron Ciraldo said of his club captain during the post-match press conference.
"They are saying it's sort of high Grade 2, Grade 3 possibly AC. That's the initial sort of thoughts on it, so he will be out for a while, but it'll be an opportunity for someone else."
The recovery range could be anywhere between three and eight weeks pending on the finalisation of a diagnosis, but Crichton, if he requires surgery, could be out for even longer.
That now leaves him in doubt for the opening State of Origin match which is less than two months away.
Ciraldo made the eyebrow-raising decision during the game to bring Sean O'Sullivan on during the game, leaving specialist centre Bronson Xerri on the bench.
He said it was down to losing Crichton as a communicator on the field.
"Obviously Bronson was there covering wing and centre, but when you lose your best communicator, I needed to get another communicator out there and Sean is one of the best at that," Ciraldo said on the replacement.
The Canterbury centre is in far worse shape than South Sydney fullback Jye Gray, who was taken from the field in the closing minutes of the game for a head injury assessment after being hit high by Canterbury bench player Sean O'Sullivan.
Asked in the post-game press conference whether Gray had passed his HIA, head coach Wayne Bennett simply gave a small nod of his head, indicating Gray would be fit to get on the plane to Perth for the Rabbitohs' clash with the Canberra Raiders next Saturday afternoon.
