North Queensland Cowboys head coach Todd Payten has revealed Jeremiah Nanai strained his hamstring with 20 minutes to go against the Sydney Roosters last weekend before playing out the contest.
The second-rower, like all of his teammates, struggled in the historic 70-point beatdown at the hands of the Sydney Roosters, which finished 14 tries to 2.
By the time it was all said and done, Nanai had 96 running metres from 10 carries, 2 tackle breaks and, in a stat he could be proud of given the lopsided nature of the scoreline, 35 tackles with just a pair of misses.
But Nanai will be missing this weekend, with the Queensland Maroons representative set to spend at least two or three weeks on the sideline according to the club with the low level injury.
“Strained his hamstring with 20 minutes to go, so a remarkable effort to finish the game,” Payten told club media on Tuesday afternoon of Nanai's injury and absence this week.
“We didn't notice it in the [coaches] box, but were made aware of it after the game and he is going to miss a couple of games.”
The second-rower has been replaced in the run-on side by Kai O'Donnell, who was named to the bench last weekend, but failed to feature for the Townsville-based outfit in the drubbing.
The Cowboys have also confirmed hooker Reed Mahoney is only expected to miss one more week with a concussion.
He missed the game against the Roosters and was set to return for this weekend's Thursday night clash with the Gold Coast Titans - suddenly a must-win for the Cowboys - given it was more than 11 days since the concussion.
But with it being a second occurrence this year, Payten said his medical staff were taking a conservative approach with Mahoney's return.
“That is specialist advice. It's his second concussion for the year. I know they were a fair way a part, but given the protocols and where things are at with concussion and all that stuff, we have done the right thing and he will be right to play next week,” the coach added on Mahoney.
The Cowboys loss to the Roosters destroyed their for and against, and now leaves them ninth on the table, behind the seventh-placed South Sydney Rabbitohs and eighth-placed Canterbury Bulldogs on for and against.
Their run to the finish line however is one that should see them still comfortably play finals footy, with games against the Titans, Parramatta Eels, Wests Tigers and Canberra Raiders, as well as having a bye.
The last two of those games are at home.
Based on current projections, the Cowboys will likely need to win at least three of those four to play finals footy, although the actual mark could be lower if teams around them on the ladder also in the hunt for spots seven and eight on the ladder don't go as expected.
Coach Payten should have said “Wasn’t he a dumb guy ? The match was gone beyond redemption, so he should have come off immediately and got the hamstring on ice rather than risk aggravating it”.