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Newcastle have lost five-eighth Blake Green to a suspected ACL injury during their 12-0 NRL win over North Queensland.
Newcastle's hopes for a top-four finish took a blow on Sunday with five-eighth Blake Green suffering a suspected ACL injury in their 12-0 win over North Queensland.
In just his third game for the Knights, Green buckled under the weight of a tackle and was taken from the field midway through the first half.
It's a huge blow for the 33-year-old who joined the club on a short-term deal until the end of the season as a stop-gap solution for a troubling casualty ward at the Knights.
Already this season Newcastle have lost Jayden Brailey to an ACL injury, as well as fellow dummy halves Andrew McCullough (hamstring) and Connor Watson (Achilles) for the remainder of the season.
"He's shattered," Knights coach Adam O'Brien said of Green after the game.
"We're like soldiers getting repeatedly shot, it's unbelievable.
"It just feel for him at the moment.
"There's a little crew there that he can sit and work with for the rest of the year as part of the coaching staff.
"It's too big of a crew at the moment."
The Knights scrambled to replace Green in Newcastle on Sunday, forcing Kurt Mann back into the halves and young halfback Phoenix Crossland into dummy half.
And with eight regular starters missing through injury, it could be the way they line up through the remainder of the season with five games left until finals, while Mason Lino could also be considered.
Green's injury was a sour note on a tough win on Sunday, with fullback Kalyn Ponga setting up both tries for the hosts at either end of the game.
The wind wreaked havoc on attack for both sides, but things got more complicated for the Knights when halfback Mitchell Pearce was sent to the sin bin on halftime.
They then toughed out the second half with just two players on the bench after winger Starford To'a was taken off with concussion in the 33rd minute.
But the Cowboys had their own problems with star forward Jason Taumalolo limping off with a calf injury in the second half, and didn't return.
Prop Josh McGuire could be in trouble for a lazy high tackle on Ponga late in the second half which was put on report.
For all the Cowboys' errors, their defence was resolute but could not land a blow in attack.
"I didn't like our last plays, I thought our kicking game was poor," Cowboys interim coach Josh Hannay said.
"Particularly in the second half. We'd worked really hard int he second half to give ourselves a chance.
"We showed some effort and resolve there that we haven't seen in a while at this club.
"That gave us a chance, and then the second half we lacked control with our last plays to build any pressure."
The sloppy loss adds to a miserable season for the Cowboys who have not been held scoreless since 2012.
It was their eighth straight loss and the 11th from their past 12 games.
The Knights are sixth on the ladder and appear set to play finals for the first time since 2013, while the Cowboys remain 14th with just three wins this season.
