New South Wales Blues' starting prop Daniel Saifiti has been ruled out of Game 3 of the State of Origin series.
Playing for the Newcastle Knights on Saturday in a crushing win over the North Queensland Cowboys, Saifiti failed to finish the game with what was originally thought to be a concussion.
It was revealed on Monday morning however that the 25-year-old, who is playing his third consecutive year of Origin after debuting during the 2019 series, has suffered a rib cartilage injury.
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It's unclear at this stage just how severe the injury is, however, the Blues camp have been advised by Newcastle medical staff that Saifiti will be unavailable for Origin 3.
With Dale Finucane and Nicho Hynes calling into the Blues' Origin camp as the back-up options, it's thought Finucane would come onto the bench, with Payne Haas to start the dead rubber after playing from the bench in both Game 1 and 2.
While Haas was superb from the bench, flipping the momentum of the series opener virtually single-handily, and has put up enormous numbers in both games, there is no other option to start given Junior Paulo has already been promoted following Jake Trbojevic's withdrawal from Game 2.
If Saifiti was to be out for any length of time, it will be a crushing blow for the club side, with the starting prop averaging 152 metres per game through the first half of the NRL season.
His selection for the Blues, on the back of that, came about as a virtual no-brainer. In a Knights' side sitting around the edge of the top eight, Saifiti will be crucial to their finals aspirations.
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This is even more so the case with a pivotal stretch of upcoming games following a bye this coming weekend. Following it, they will take on the Storm and Roosters, both away from home, before hosting the Raiders and Broncos in a month of footy which could determine whether they have the potential of playing finals.
