Veteran back-rower Sam Thaiday will undergo surgery in London on Tuesday after fracturing his cheekbone and eye socket during Australia's win over England.
Thaiday, sustained the injury in a collision with England prop James Graham in the second half of the 38-16 win at the London Stadium and immediately left the field.
The Queensland and Brisbane NRL star will miss Sunday's final against New Zealand at Anfield and becomes the second player in the Kangaroos squad to suffer a tournament-ending injury.
Josh Mansour was finally able to fly home last week after sustaining torn anterior cruciate ligaments during a training collision with Josh Dugan at Burton a fortnight ago.
Thaiday, 31, will rejoin the squad in Liverpool later this week and it is hoped he will be passed to fit fly back to Australia next Monday (Tuesday AEDT) when the team returns home after almost six weeks in the UK.
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The head of Canterbury skipper Graham also inflicted a similar injury to his England teammate Sam Burgess during the 2014 NRL grand final.
Thaiday has come off the interchange bench in every game of the tournament and his spot is likely to be taken by either Shannon Boyd or young Manly back-rower Jake Trbojevic.
