Jason Nightingale's NRL farewell likely rests in the fate of his St George Illawarra teammates as the Dragons' fan favourite admits he may have played his last first grade game.
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The veteran wing, who will retire at the end of the year, dislocated his left elbow in an awkward tackle with teammate Jeremy Latimore in Sunday's 38-0 loss to Canterbury.
Although the elbow was placed back in on the sideline, there are fears he will miss between four and six weeks. Scans on Monday should provide a clearer indication.
If the time frame is accurate Nightingale might not return until the September 30 grand final - a scenario that appears unlikely after the Dragons dropped their sixth game in eight weeks.
"I think that might depend on how far we go and that sort of thing, and that's a shame but we will look at the prognosis (on Monday)," Nightingale said.
"There is a little bit of light until you get the bad news and they tell you how long it is going to be.
"It felt alright once it got back in and it wasn't that painful, I can push out okay."
Nightingale has previously injured his right elbow, and was on the comeback from a neck injury when he suffered his latest setback during his 50th and final game at Kogarah.
Despite the blow, Nightingale said he had been relatively injury-free during his 11-year, 265-game NRL career.
"I have been lucky with injury, it's a shame it has happened now, but that's rugby league."
Dragons centre Euan Aitken will also go for scans on a torn hamstring - Zac Lomax will likely come into the side for Saturday's final round clash in Newcastle.
The Dragons' loss was the worst of any Saints' outfit at the ground dating back back to their first game there in 1950, while it saw them slump to sixth on the ladder.
After sitting first as recently as round 16, the Dragons now need to flog the Knights and have a myriad of results go in their favour to have a second life come finals time.
"It's a new competition once you get to finals, but we are limping in there at the moment and it's not good enough," Nightingale said.
"We saw things out of the bag like North Queensland did last year (to make the grand final from eighth), but you don't want to rely on those sorts of things."
AAP
