The Melbourne Storm have confirmed Jahrome Hughes' stint on the sideline will not be a long one, with the halfback ruled out due to a low grade hamstring injury.
Hughes picked up the injury during the closing stages of Melbourne's heavy 42 points to 20 win over the Canberra Raiders on Sunday afternoon.
He left the field with just eight minutes to play, with the New Zealand international now likely to be unavailable for a period of between one and three weeks.
Low grade hamstring strains are often simply a management injury, and Hughes will track back to the park in the coming weeks pending on how he rebounds.
The Storm, who have won five of their last six as they recover from a slow start to the season, have named Tyran Wishart at halfback to replace him this weekend, with Josiah Pahulu joining the bench for their latest installment of the Battle of Brookvale against the Manly Sea Eagles.
Melbourne's Round 17 game will be followed immediately by their second bye of the year, and they could well be in a position to welcome Hughes back for the following week's home game - a Sunday night clash against the Gold Coast Titans.
He could also be put on ice for that game though, with the Storm then facing a five-day turnaround into a key clash against the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Wishart has proven his abilities in the halves previously, although his running game is far more suited to the five-eighth role.
Hughes has been a key part of the Storm's run back up the ladder, with the halfback laying on seven try assists in their five winning efforts over the last six games, taking his season tally to 18 in just 14 games.
One of the game's best halfbacks is also running the ball for 91 metres per contest and kicking strongly, with the SStorm approaching the top eight.
They have now won 7 of their 15 games, but still have two byes up their sleeve compared to teams ahead of them who have in their vast majority had either two or three in the case of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Sitting just four points outside the top eight with that advantage, but facing a tricky run home where they still have to play Manly (twice), the Roosters, Rabbitohs, Panthers and Sharks, as well as the Bulldogs and Broncos, their finals hopes are hanging in the air.
Melbourne will likely need to find at least five wins from their final nine games to qualify, with potentially two of those now to be played without Hughes during the busy Origin period where Cameron Munster, Trent Loiero and Harry Grant are all in the Queensland set up.
