PARRAMATTA centre Timana Tahu is likely to be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a knee injury.
Tahu damaged medial ligaments in his right knee in the final minutes of New South Wales's 16-14 loss to Queensland in the State of Origin decider at Telstra Dome in Melbourne last night.
Doctors expect that scans tomorrow will confirm Tahu faces a lengthy lay-off.
"I ended up colliding with (Morons fullback Clinton) Schifcofske and someone's come from behind," Tahu said today.
"I don't know who, and (the knee) was pretty much squashed into a funny angle.
"I thought it was just a cork, I tried to get up and run, but it was just no good."
The injury turned a bad night into a shocker for the former Newcastle flyer, who has endured a year he would rather forget with the Eels languishing near the bottom of the NRL ladder.
"Losing the Origin and then this (knee injury) was pretty bad, but then at Parramatta this year there's heaps of dramas at our club and we've been struggling as well," Tahu said.
"It's just disappointing that I can't back up for my club and be there when the boys are doing it tough.
"I'll probably be depressed for a couple of weeks."
But Tahu remains convinced the Eels can still make a charge at the NRL finals.
Even if the 2005 minor premier can't squeeze into the play-offs, Tahu believes a strong finish to the season will hold the club in good stead for next year when Michael Hagan takes over the reins as head coach.
"If I can get this right and try and play a couple more games so that we can come out on a high even if we don't make the top eight," Tahu said.
"Newcastle were in the same position as us last year, where they were losing lots of games, but they played well towards the end of the year and carried it through to his year.
"We've got a couple of hard games coming up, Newcastle and then the New Zealand Warriors, who are in good form ... it's just going to be very frustrating sitting on the sidelines watching it."
well, that's no good for him but very good for us, he's been in damaging form. i don't mind if he sits our game out at all lol
Tahu damaged medial ligaments in his right knee in the final minutes of New South Wales's 16-14 loss to Queensland in the State of Origin decider at Telstra Dome in Melbourne last night.
Doctors expect that scans tomorrow will confirm Tahu faces a lengthy lay-off.
"I ended up colliding with (Morons fullback Clinton) Schifcofske and someone's come from behind," Tahu said today.
"I don't know who, and (the knee) was pretty much squashed into a funny angle.
"I thought it was just a cork, I tried to get up and run, but it was just no good."
The injury turned a bad night into a shocker for the former Newcastle flyer, who has endured a year he would rather forget with the Eels languishing near the bottom of the NRL ladder.
"Losing the Origin and then this (knee injury) was pretty bad, but then at Parramatta this year there's heaps of dramas at our club and we've been struggling as well," Tahu said.
"It's just disappointing that I can't back up for my club and be there when the boys are doing it tough.
"I'll probably be depressed for a couple of weeks."
But Tahu remains convinced the Eels can still make a charge at the NRL finals.
Even if the 2005 minor premier can't squeeze into the play-offs, Tahu believes a strong finish to the season will hold the club in good stead for next year when Michael Hagan takes over the reins as head coach.
"If I can get this right and try and play a couple more games so that we can come out on a high even if we don't make the top eight," Tahu said.
"Newcastle were in the same position as us last year, where they were losing lots of games, but they played well towards the end of the year and carried it through to his year.
"We've got a couple of hard games coming up, Newcastle and then the New Zealand Warriors, who are in good form ... it's just going to be very frustrating sitting on the sidelines watching it."
well, that's no good for him but very good for us, he's been in damaging form. i don't mind if he sits our game out at all lol
