Injured Manly star Tom Trbojevic has been ruled out of NSW's opening two State of Origin matches but the Sea Eagles are counting themselves lucky.
Scan results on Monday showed Trbojevic suffered a syndesmosis injury to his left ankle in Saturday's match against Brisbane after it was initially feared his season was over.
The fullback also has an MCL (medial collateral ligament) sprain to his left knee and he will be out of action from six to eight weeks.
He had been considered a certainty to make his State of Origin debut later this month on the wing for NSW.
Manly coach Trent Barrett counted the scan result as a positive given how ugly the incident and aftermath looked when he was tackled by David Mead after he jumped to catch a bouncing ball.
"We feel extremely lucky given the nature of the mid-air tackle as it had the potential to be a lot worse," said Barrett.
"To lose Tom for up to eight weeks is very disappointing. However, we aim to continue to play well and improve our position on the table.
"Tom will now begin his rehabilitation program with the Manly medical staff."
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