Ryan Papenhuyzen in disturbing scenes as Storm’s star fullback suffers another injury setback

Melbourne’s star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen has suffered a broken lower leg during a nail-biting 22-20 win over plucky Gold Coast.

The rugby league world held its breath at Robina on Saturday as the dazzling Storm No.1 clutched his right ankle as he made a tackle late in the first half.

It was the same one he broke in week one of the final against Brisbane last year, after missing 13 months with a shattered kneecap.

The 25-year-old fan favorite was in a moon boot and on crutches after full-time after scoring two tries and scoring one himself.

Papenhuyzen immediately went for scans and posted a post on Instagram, referring to the picture he had submitted after the break last year.

‘Thanks for the love. Small crack above the plate, come back soon,” Papenhuyzen wrote.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy commiserated with his in-form star after the match.

“I don’t know how unlucky you can be,” he said.

The Storm have yet to reveal how long Papenhuyzen will be out, but respected Brisbane physiotherapist Brian Seeney, known as NRL PHYSIO on social media site ‘X’, said the time frame was “often six to eight weeks of recovery to allow for adequate bone healing ‘. but varies’.

Dazzling 21-year-old winger Sua Faalogo, in his second NRL match, scored a try from a scrum with the Titans just watching him weave his way to score, with barely a hand laid on him to give the visitors a 20 -6 to be delivered. pipe.

Faalogo, Papenhuyzen’s obvious successor, was also injured.

“He also ended up coming away with a knee injury,” Bellamy said.

Papenhuyzen appeared to get his feet stuck in the ground before twisting his ankle upon landing

‘We don’t know how bad that is. He felt something in his knee.’

Titans fullback AJ Brimson was incredible, getting the hosts back into the game after they were 14 points behind and lost number 6 and goalkeeper Tanah Boyd early on to a left arm injury.

Gold Coast skipper Kieran Foran showed all his knowledge, skill and desire to beat four Melbourne attackers to score and give the hosts a 6-0 lead.

Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster, in his 200th NRL match, started and finished a classic try that showcased the skill of Papenhuyzen and much-improved second rower Shawn Blore.

Munster and Papenhuyzen sent winger Will Warbrick over from a scrum before the Storm fullback completed a Munster/Blore liaison for a classic try of his own.

But the Titans weren’t done yet.

The game turned when Gold Coast winger Phil Sami scored in the corner after 35 minutes when he appeared to bounce the ball over the line. Sami laughed as the bunker acknowledged.

After the break, Brimson crashed wide of the sticks and a penalty goal made it 20-20.

Storm goalkeeper Nick Meaney hit the post with one penalty attempt but landed his second from the same spot.

Sami was denied with three minutes to go when he put his foot on the sideline while trying to score.

The Titans were hit hard when winger Jojo Fifita was adjudged to have made a tackle as the visitors held on.

“It was disappointing that we gave away some soft tries in the first half, but we showed enough character to come back,” Gold Coast coach Des Hasler said.

‘You’re probably going to ask questions about the controversial phone calls. You get some and you lose some. The ones you lose are always the hardest.

“We can talk about the comic for half a day at the end, but that won’t help.”