Mystery surrounds Jack de Belin's fitness just two weeks out from the NSW State of Origin team announcement.
The Blues hopeful was pulled after just nine minutes in the second half of Sunday's 24-10 NRL loss to South Sydney though St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor refused to reveal any details including the nature or severity of the problem.
The back-rower did not train during the week because of a hip pointer injury and McGregor suggested it was a mistake to let him play.
Whether he will miss any game time remains unknown after McGregor was evasive when asked about his star forward.
"Jack was one of them guys that didn't train all week and played pretty much no minutes," McGregor said.
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"We used two interchanges on it. It's a bit of a lesson there."
Asked about the exact nature of the injury, McGregor bizarrely refuses to elaborate.
"I can't tell you that ... It's on his body," he said.
De Belin got through 28 minutes against the Bunnies on Sunday but didn't have his usual impact.
It was a worrying sign after his second spell was cut short and it clearly wasn't McGregor's plan to use him that way.
It's unclear if he'll be available to take on Canberra on Sunday and should de Belin miss any game time, it would cause a headache for NSW coach Brad Fittler so close to game one.
De Belin was all but certain to be picked for the June 6 Origin series opener and with Wade Graham (hamstring) racing the clock to be fit, an injury to the Red V enforcer is the last thing the Blues need.
