Kalyn Ponga will miss up to two months with his hamstring injury as part of a double injury blow for Newcastle that also sidelines marquee signing Dylan Brown.
But the Knights have received good news on attacking livewire Fletcher Sharpe, who is on track to return from his knee injury against the Warriors this weekend.
Scans confirmed Ponga suffered a high-grade hamstring strain during the first half of Sunday’s 36-16 thrashing of Manly, meaning he will miss between six and eight weeks.
It leaves the Queensland star with limited time to push his case for State of Origin selection on return, with the series opener scheduled for May 27.
Star playmaker Brown will spend four weeks on the sidelines with a grade-two medical cruciate ligament strain suffered late in the win over the Sea Eagles.
“Yesterday was a tough, physical contest and the boys showed real grit to come away with a great win,” said Knights football boss Chris James.
“Injuries are part of our game, and the character our group showed to fight through adversity says everything about the culture we are building.”
The double blow came after Newcastle’s other attacking weapon Sharpe went down with a posterior cruciate ligament injury in the round-one defeat of North Queensland in Las Vegas.
But Sharpe is progressing well in his recovery and will be named in the halves alongside Sandon Smith for Saturday’s first game in Newcastle this season.
The injuries to Ponga and Brown threaten to take the shine off a fantastic start to life under new coach Justin Holbrook, who has the reigning wooden spooners 2-0 to start the year.
Fletcher Hunt switched to fullback midway through the win over Manly and is the leading candidate to wear the No.1 jersey against the Warriors this week.
