Billy Slater will indeed be forced to shuffle the Maroons backline for the State of Origin decider after Storm winger Xavier Coates was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Melbourne confirmed on Sunday morning that Coates had suffered a low-grade tear in his right hamstring in the club’s 16-6 win over the Raiders on Saturday night.
He’ll be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks.
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Having been overlooked for Origin II, Coates’ injury would likely see Selwyn Cobbo brought back into the squad.
Coates’ injury came while trying to score a late try that would’ve iced the Storm’s win.
The Maroons winger did not celebrate the try and appeared to immediately mouth “hammy” to teammate Jahrome Hughes.
To make matters worse, the try was disallowed by the Bunker after replays showed he’d knocked the ball on in the field of play before sliding into the in-goal.
He went straight up the tunnel after coming from the field.
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“He looked in real concern,” Michael Ennis said in commentary for Fox Sports.
”All of a sudden Selwyn Cobbo comes right back into those calculations having been left out of game two.”
It’s Coates’ second hamstring for the season. He missed two weeks after a similar injury in the Storm’s big win over the Rabbitohs in round eight.
Coates looked to be fighting back tears as he went up the tunnel, and coach Craig Bellamy confirmed the Maroons flyer was upset in the changerooms.
“It was probably made a little bit worse given it was his 50th Storm game. He’s in there pretty upset at the moment,” Bellamy said.
It was an uncharacteristically scrappy performance from the Storm, who made 18 errors on a wet night in Melbourne. The Raiders made 17 as cameras caught both coaches at different stages fuming.
Josh King, Shawn Blore and Jack Howarth were the Storm’s try-scorers, while Kaeo Weekes was the lone Raider to get in the books.