RUGBY LEAGUE
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Brett Morris’ worst fears have been realised, with the international winger out for an ‘‘indefinite period’’ as a result of his shoulder injury from the State of Origin opener.
The Dragons announced on Friday evening Morris had suffered a fracture and ligament damage to his shoulder after scoring at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
It’s the same shoulder he had reconstructed earlier in his career.
‘‘The Kiama Knights junior will now meet with Dragons medical officials to seek additional specialist medical advice before finalising the best treatment and rehabilitation program for the injury,’’ a Dragons statement read.
‘‘The extent of the injury was confirmed following the results of a CT scan on Friday.’’
Morris played the remaining 60 minutes - including making a match-saving tackle on opposite number Darius Boyd with five minutes left - of NSW’s game one win.
But his injury is almost certain to keep him out of game two in Sydney and perhaps for a long time after that as the Blues continue to count the cost of their series lead.
Morris’ twin Josh is also expected to miss the rest of the series after his club, the Bulldogs, said he would be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.
Brett’s Dragons teammate Jason Nightingale expressed his shock at training on Friday that Morris even managed to finish the match.
Nightingale is expected to make his own return from a knee injury against South Sydney on Monday night.
‘‘He did well to battle on through that injury,’’ Nightingale said. ‘‘I thought he was going to come off when he did it and I didn’t expect to him play on a five-day turnaround with that sort of injury.
‘‘Now Mary [coach Paul McGregor] has got a decision to make and he’ll use [our sessions for the rest of the week] to help with the decision he’s got to make.’’