A KNEE injury may have ended Blake Green's tenure with the Newcastle Knights after he joined their long list of casualties during Sunday's 12-0 against North Queensland at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Green, who had earlier needed treatment for a bleeding nose, collapsed in a tackle in the 18th minute and showed immediate signs of distress.
After he was assessed by Newcastle's medical staff, the 33-year-old five-eighth regained his feet before deciding he was unable to continue and limping from the field.
There was concern he had suffered season-ending anterior cruciate ligament damage.
It was Green's third game for the Knights after his mid-season release from the Warriors, and the likelihood of losing him long term is a cruel blow to Newcastle's hopes.
Already the Knights are without hookers Jayden Brailey (knee), Connor Watson (Achilles) and Andrew McCullough (hamstring), winger Edrick Lee (arm), prop Tim Glasby (concussion), back-rower Sione Mata'utia (ankle), centre Bradman Best (ankle) and prop Daniel Saifiti.
Green is off contract at the end of this season and his hopes of earning a deal for next season might depend on the severity of his injury.
In his absence, Kurt Mann switched from hooker to five-eighth and Phoenix Crossland came off the bench to handle the dummy-half duties.
Newcastle led 6-0 at half-time after a Hymel Hunt try and a Kalyn Ponga penalty goal, but the loss of Green was compounded by skipper Mitchell Pearce receiving 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a professional foul on the stroke of half-time.
That meant the Knights were reduced to 12 men for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
In addition, Newcastle winger Starford Toa was taken off for a head-injury assessment, which left the home team with a makeshift backline.
The numbers were evened up five minutes after the interval when Cowboys forward Mitchell Dunn was binned.
The Knights twice appeared to have scored, through Herman Ese'ese and Lachlan Fitzgibbon in the 54th and 57th minutes respectively, but on both occasions the video referee correctly ruled no-try.
A Ponga penalty goal in the 63rd minute gave the Knights an 8-0 lead.
Ponga then iced the win two minutes from full-time with a cut-out pass that put fellow former Cowboy Enari Tuala over in the corner against his old club.
The win lifted the Knights back to sixth on the ladder, a point behind fourth-placed Sydney Roosters, with five rounds to play.
