Knights dealt cruel injury blow as Bradman Best suffers fresh hamstring injury
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With their season already precariously on the brink, Newcastle Knights' finals chances have copped another whack.
The decision to have Bradman Best back up after Origin III appeared to backfire when he was forced from the field early in the first half against the Broncos with a hamstring injury.
Best looked to have suffered the injury trying to make a diving tackle on Reece Walsh.
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Cameras shortly after cut to Best receiving treatment from a Knights trainer, before gingerly standing.
Best reacts after suffering a hamstring injury against the Broncos. Getty
"Oh no, he doesn't look confident," Mick Ennis said in commentary for Fox Sports as Best began limping towards the sideline.
He then went straight up the tunnel and was ruled out shortly after. The Knights went on to lose the match 30-14 as the Broncos snapped a six-game losing streak.
Best scored the opening try for the Blues on Wednesday night as they broke a 19-year drought at Suncorp Stadium.
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The Blues Origin hero went straight up the players race. NRL Images
Best had earlier been ordered to pass a fitness test after reporting hamstring tightness before taking his place in the Knights team.
Best battled hamstring niggles earlier in the season and missed the State of Origin series opener in Sydney.
The Knights' clash with the Broncos was touted almost as a finals match with the two clubs sitting outside the top eight, and the opening 20 minutes was a scrappy affair.
Both sides blew try-scoring opportunities before the Broncos managed to get three across the line to lead 18-0 at the break.
They carried that momentum into the second half and were leading 30-4 with fifteen minutes to play when the Knights scored two consolation tries.
Speaking post-match, Knights coach Adam O'Brien confirmed that Best would undergo scans on the opposite hamstring to the one that hampered him on the eve of Origin III.
"[The medical team] think it's a low grade but it's the other hammy from earlier in the year," he told media.
"He had some awareness and tightness after the Canberra game [in round 18] leading up to Origin but that was cleared so it's not that one, it's the other one.
"They are saying that there are some good signs that it won't be a massive thing but the way he's built and the way he plays with such power, this happens.
"It's not unique to us, it's across the entire competition these types of injuries."
O'Brien also underscored that there were no concerns for Best's hamstrings ahead of the match.
"All reports from Origin camp and Bradman himself - he pulled through fine from the game," he said.
Newcastle get a week off next week, before taking on the Panthers in round 22.
