Canterbury five-eighth Josh Reynolds may have played his last game of the NRL season after he sustained a knee injury during his side’s loss to Cronulla on Sunday.
The Bulldogs said Reynolds would be out for four to six weeks.
Reynolds had already been charged by the NRL judiciary with dangerous contact after contacting the head of the Sharks’ Valentine Holmes during an attempted charge down.
That potential one-to-two-week ban is now effectively irrelevant.
With six regular rounds to go the seventh-placed Bulldogs are no guarantee of playing in the finals after the costly loss to the Sharks at Belmore Stadium.
Coach Des Hasler does have a handy replacement at his disposal in the form of Moses Mbye who has regularly started ahead of Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson in the halves this year.
The club is also awaiting further scans on back-rower Frank Pritchard’s rib injury.
It is feared Pritchard could be out for a month. He had a first set of scans on Monday but the Bulldogs have sent him for a follow-up to determine the full extent of the problem.