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Canberra forward Ryan Sutton could miss the rest of the NRL season after suffering a suspected MCL injury on Saturday night.
Canberra forward Ryan Sutton is facing an early end to his season after suffering a suspected MCL injury in Saturday's NRL win over Cronulla.
The Englishman was taken from the field in the first half after his knee twisted awkwardly while making a tackle.
He will go for scans on Sunday, where it's expected a high-grade MCL injury will be confirmed.
"He just can't take a trick the poor bugger," said coach Ricky Stuart after the 38-28 victory.
"He's had a wonderful year.
"After missing out on the big games last year he was all ready to go for the play offs.
"That's a part of coaching and footy that I really hate, seeing the disappointment in a bloke that you really care for and really like.
"He's a great guy."
It comes just as Canberra is emerging from an injury crisis that threatened to derail their season.
Beloved prop Sia Soliola made his return on Saturday after a 12-week lay-off with horrible facial fractures.
He was one of only a handful of players with extensive NRL experience in the win, which Stuart says will not even be reviewed.
A whopping 12 tries were scored between both teams who rested a number of players to prepare for next week's elimination final in Canberra.
It will be the first time the Raiders have played the Sharks in a finals match since the 2016 qualifying final.
However, the circumstances are drastically different this season.
Following Saturday's loss to the Raiders, the Sharks are the first side in 25 years to make the finals without beating a top eight team.
But Stuart knows better than to read into it.
"We won't review tonight, we'll go straight into preparing for next week," he said.
"It's semi-finals football and they'll be a different team next week and I know we will too.
"I take nothing out of tonight and I'm sure John (Morris) won't take anything out of it either.
"Cronulla have played semi-finals football before, they've got a very experienced team.
"They have experience coming back so they'll be a different team next week."
