Newcastle's injury troubles have reached catastrophic levels with star halfback Mitchell Pearce suffering a suspected pectoral muscle injury in their bruising 22-13 NRL loss to St George Illawarra.
The 301-game veteran was taken off 25 minutes into Sunday's game at McDonald Jones Stadium clutching at his upper left chest and was soon joined on the bench by Kurt Mann (concussion) and Tex Hoy (hamstring).
Test prop David Klemmer played on with a painful knee injury suffered midway through the second half as the Knights finished the final 20 minutes with one man on the bench.
There are fears Pearce has suffered a ruptured left pec which would require surgery and rule him out for around three months, however if scans indicate a tear only his time out would be significantly shortened.
It comes almost three years after Pearce suffered a ruptured right pec which ruled him out for 10 weeks.
Sunday's incident happened innocuously with the Knights leading 6-0 when Pearce threw his arm out in an attempt to tackle Dragons second-rower Tariq Sims but only his hand connected.
Fullback Hoy didn't return in the second half after suffering a hamstring injury, while there were big concerns for five-eighth Mann when he was knocked out in the 56th minute while attempting to tackle Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa.
The incident sparked a melee when Ravalawa was seen celebrating as Mann was prone and Knights forward Jacob Saifiti was put on report for sparking the all-in with his reaction.
At the time, the Knights held a narrow 13-12 lead but their lengthening injury list got the better of them as the Dragons ran in tries to Tariq Sims from a charge down and Brayden Wiliame to polish off the win.
The Knights already have a lengthy injured list, missing star fullback Kalyn Ponga, who is expected to be close to a return in round five, as well as second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon, centre Bradman Best and winger Edrick Lee.
After playing on through injury, Klemmer is in doubt to play Gold Coast next week after being placed on report twice in the first half - once for striking Blake Lawrie with his elbow in a scrum and again for a late hit on Corey Norman.
But while the Knights fell apart amid their injuries after holding a 7-6 lead at halftime, the Dragons were impressive in toughing out the win without stars Ben Hunt and Jack Bird
Sims landed a try double for his efforts, one from his second charge down and another off a sweet ball from replacement halfback Adam Clune close to the line.
Anthony Griffin's Dragons have now won three games in a row and are set to face unbeaten Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium next Sunday.
