South Sydney, NSW and Queensland will all be sweating on scans during the week after injury carnage for the club’s rep stars.
Maroons forward Jai Arrow lasted just 20 minutes of the match before coming off the field with a suspected syndesmosis injury, while Blues forward Cameron Murray came off in the 51st minute with a groin injury.
Watch every game of every round of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
It didn’t stop the Rabbitohs from flexing their muscles again, coming from behind on the back of a hat-trick to try-scoring magician Alex Johnston, while Cody Walker score a try, set one up, had two line breaks and set up a line break as he had the ball on string.
If Walker wanted to put his name up to be parachuted into Origin contention, it was the perfect audition.
The win also rights the ship after a two-match losing streak.
But it’s the concerns over their Origin stars that will dominate the wrap up of the match.
Social media erupted in accusations of a hip drop tackle but the commentators weren’t convinced.
Warren Smith said: “It was the efforts of (Chris) Randall around the legs. It wasn’t a hip drop.”
Arrow tried to walk it off and get some movement back into the ankle but immediately knew something was wrong.
“Boy, that’s not a great look is it,” Smith added.
Jai Arrow off with a suspected right high ankle/syndesmosis injury. Typical mechanism with contact to the outer lower leg from the tackler causing foot to turn out. Traumatic mechanism brings concern for moderate to high grade sprain, if confirmed often 3-6 weeks recovery pic.twitter.com/qf3EBQg9Df
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) June 3, 2023
Jai Arrow and Cameron Murray finished the game under injury clouds. Photo: Fox Sports and Getty Images
Speaking after the match, Arrow, who was sporting crutches was hoping it wasn’t a syndesmosis injury.
“My ankle just jammed at the back,” Arrow told Fox League.
“It’s just a precaution to put it in a moon boot before I go and get scans. We’ll see the damage tomorrow no doubt.”
Arrow, who has suffered a syndesmosis injury before, said he couldn’t remember if it felt similar but hoped he’d avoid the worst case scenario.
Murray also left the field after an ugly movement in a tackle.
Cameron Murray off after suffering a groin injury. Can see stretch mechanism with left leg getting caught awkwardly as he goes to ground. Have to hope for a minor strain – often considered âday-to-dayâ & can see a return in a couple of weeks. But partial tear usually 4+ weeks pic.twitter.com/mjgfB1Bozy
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) June 3, 2023
Arrow said he wasn’t sure how bad the injury was but said it was iced.
“It’s not good for South Sydney fans but it’s good for Queenslanders,” Arrow said.
Post-match, coach Jason Demetriou said he hoped Arrow’s injury wasn’t “too bad”, saying “there’s no talk of syndesmosis”.
As for Murray, Demetriou said that his captain had a tight groin coming into the match “and probably stretched too much”.
Murray himself said he didn’t think it was too bad but would get scans.
The win sees the Rabbitohs move back up to the top of the ladder in the group of six teams on 18 points.