Melbourne have been dealt a double blow after confirmation bench Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Christian Welch suffered separate injuries in Sunday's win over St George Illawarra.
Asofa-Solomona was on Monday ruled out for three weeks with a fractured hand, while Welch is gone for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
The timing was cruel for Asofa-Solomona, who appeared set to make his international debut for New Zealand after being selected to take on Australia on Friday.
Welch went down untouched midway through the second half against the Dragons, leaving the competition leaders without two of their major bench weapons.
"That's a huge disappointment for (Welch). He's just starting to find his feet in first grade and he's devastated at the moment," Storm coach Craig Bellamy said after the match.
"That's taken a bit of a gloss off the win tonight. All he can do now is go and get it operated on, get into his rehab and hopefully we'll be right for next year.
"But it's just horrible news for him and for us."
However in good news for the club, Kiwi international Tohu Harris came through unscathed in his return from a fractured foot with the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup.
Share
