Melbourne Storm will be sweating on the results of scans on star hooker Brandon Smith after he suffered a head knock and failed his HIA in his side’s 40-12 win over Manly on Friday night.
The Storm are one win away from reaching their second consecutive NRL grand final, however a facial injury to Smith will be a concern for coach Craig Bellamy.
“They think he might have a facial fracture,” the Melbourne coach said after the win.
“It doesn’t look like it’s displaced so until he has a scan or an X-ray to see what’s there… his face has not blown up too bad, but like I say, we’ll just have to get the scan and see what happens from there.
“But knowing Brandon he’ll be doing everything he can to play again.”
In Nine’s post-game coverage Paul Gallen said the injury doesn’t necessarily mean Smith will miss the preliminary final or grand final.
“You can [play],” Gallen said.
“I’ve played with guys that have played with broken cheekbones and little cracks in their eye sockets. It depends if it’s displaced and if there’s any danger to his eyesight. He’ll have to have a scan to see how bad it is.”
NRL guru Phil Gould believes that while Smith’s injury wasn’t pretty, it did not appear as severe as the now infamous facial fracture suffered by Roosters centre Joseph Manu following a high shot from Latrell Mitchell.
“I don’t pretend to be a doctor but the fact that the swelling is out [on the side] is a lot different to what we saw with Manu when you’ve got that fracture in the eye socket or cheekbone and your face blows up when the air goes into it,” Gould said.
“That doesn’t look like he’s blown into his nose and created air. That just looks like a contusion. Hopefully he’s alright.
“We don’t want him out of the game and he’s a big weapon for the Melbourne Storm.”
The Storm are also in the handy position of having Origin star Harry Grant available off the bench should Smith be unable to play.
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