Sam Thaiday’s Four Nations campaign is almost certainly over after the veteran Kangaroos and Queensland forward suffering a suspected fractured eye socket.
Thaiday was taken to hospital midway through the second half after being caught by the head of England’s James Graham in Australia’s 38-16 win at the London Stadium early on Monday (AEDT).
It is the second time Graham’s head has caused a serious injury to an opponent with England teammate Sam Burgess suffering the same injury during the 2014 NRL grand final
Coach Mal Meninga confirmed the news in his post-match press conference but absolved Canterbury skipper Graham of any blame.
“Unfortunately it will probably put him out of the game next week,” Meninga said of Thaiday.
“I think it was accidental.”
Cooper Cronk, who was named man of the match, said Thaiday knew immediately that he had a serious problem and said the injury had taken some of the shine off a comprehensive win.
“He knew about it as soon as it happened and our fingers, toes and every hair follicle is crossed for him that it’s a positive scan result,” Cronk said.
“There is no doubt that he will be part of our team in the final whether he’s playing or not.”
Cronk also believes the squad – who have already lost Josh Mansour to a serious knee injury – is filled with enough quality to cope and claimed it’s the strongest he’s been involved with since debuting in 2009.
“With no disrespect to the other squads we’ve had previously but we go deep into the 24-man roster,” he said.
“Mal has stated he picked his best team tonight, and there will probably be changes through injury but as a senior player I am super confident you can bring in anyone in this squad they can do a job.”
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