St Helens' Australian scrumhalf Luke Walsh has been ruled out for four to five months with a broken leg.
The 27-year-old spent two nights in hospital after sustaining the injury in the first half of last Friday's 44-22 win over Widnes and has already undergone surgery.
Although Walsh's first season in Super League has been cut short, the injury isn't as serious as initially feared.
"He's basically snapped his fibula," St Helens coach Nathan Brown said on Tuesday.
"He's had surgery with the plate and bolts and all the type of things that go in and he'll be four or five months.
"It was as good a result as you could expect. It could have been worse."
The loss of Walsh is still a body blow to the Super League leaders, who are just two points ahead of Leeds going into the last five games of the regular season.
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