The Knights will be sweating on the results of injured duo Bradman Best and Kurt Mann, with the pair both sustaining leg injuries in Friday night's win over Canterbury.
Mann is suspected to have suffered an MCL injury following a collision with Bulldogs halfback Kyle Flanagan and could face over a month on the sidelines.
Intitial reports of a suspected MCL injury for Kurt Mann, as noted contusion can cause tissue damage & sometimes in extreme cases a tear. Hopefully more just bleeding rather than true partial tear. If no tearing/instability usual return in 1-3wks, 3-5wks if true stretch sprain
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) March 12, 2021
The Newcastle five-eighth made a return to the pitch shortly after the injury before being ruled out for the remainder of the match.
Mann spoke to Fox Sports' Lara Pitt following the injury, with the 28-year-old set to learn the official extent of damage in the coming days.
“They think it’s my medial (ligament). I think best case scenario is five weeks, so could be much worse but I’ll have a scan tomorrow and find out more then,” he said.
Kurt Mann off a few minutes after this incident, main concern for contusion (cork/bone bruise) with clash of knees. Medial knee can be particularly painful, will get worse as he cools down. Can cause soft tissue damage, but would hope he’s avoided fracture. Usually quick recovery pic.twitter.com/0GYLmg5Gxa
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) March 12, 2021
Best was also sidelined for the Knights after suffering an ankle injury during the 32-16 victory, with Pitt ruling out the rising star for the club's Round 2 clash against the Warriors next week.
“It looks like they will be without Bradman Best next week,” she said.
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“His left ankle is heavily on ice. The club say it is a sprain and he will have scans early in the week.”
Newcastle winger Starford To'a also looked to have sustained a shoulder complaint after scoring his first try of the season but played out the entire 80 minutes.
Friday's win was the perfect start for coach Adam O'Brien, as co-captain Daniel Saifiti had a day out with two tries, two line breaks and 174 running metres.
