Queensland rocked by shocking injury to Maroons star: ‘It’s not great’

Xavier Coates appears to be in major doubt for the State of Origin decider after the Queensland winger suffered a hamstring injury during Melbourne’s 16-6 win over Canberra.

Coates limped off AAMI Park on Saturday night after attempting to dive for the ball, and coaches had to help him into the locker rooms.

The injury, his second hamstring injury of the season, threatens his participation in the third Origin match in Brisbane on July 17.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said Coates would undergo scans but admitted it didn’t look good for the 23-year-old.

“It’s obviously not great, you know, he’s had a few issues,” Bellamy said.

‘Until he actually has a scan we won’t know the exact extent of the injury, but I don’t think it’s that good.

‘I don’t think he would be available (for Origin), but I don’t think the medical staff are going to make that prediction until they’ve seen a scan.’

Physiotherapist Brien Seeney, who runs the popular NRL Physio account on social media platform X, said Coates would need four to eight weeks to recover.

Coates had returned from Wednesday’s Origin II, which was played outside the club’s home stadium, the MCG, but Melbourne captain Harry Grant was rested and star forward Ryan Papenhuzen was also absent due to a foot injury.

With the injured Cameron Munster already sidelined, the Storm struggled to convert an abundance of possession into points in the first half.

However, the Raiders do deserve credit for their defensive efforts, especially after giving up 82 points in their last two losses.

Canberra ultimately made 345 tackles to the Storm’s 223, with five ruck infringements by the visitors in the first half alone.

It took until the 36th minute for Melbourne to break through and take a 6-0 lead, thanks to prop Josh King finding a gap created by Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead running out of the defensive line.

After a number of first-half errors, Canberra fullback Kaeo Weekes made amends with a stunning 90-metre sprint in the second half to move level with the NRL ladder leaders at 6-6.

Coates limped off AAMI Park after attempting to dive for the ball

But Melbourne took the lead again when dummy half Bronson Garlick found Shawn Blore, who crossed the line four minutes later.

That margin was increased to 10 points when promising young center Jack Howarth scored his first NRL try in the 51st minute.

Coates appeared to have sealed the match, but the video referee ruled a domino, giving the Raiders hope of closing the gap.

But being reduced to 15 men after losing debutant Jordan Martin, Ati Mariota and Jordan Rapana to headers made the formidable task even more difficult.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was pleased with his team’s response after recent heavy losses, describing it as their ‘best defensive performance this year’, but said they gave the Storm too much possession.

“If you look at the amount of tackles we had to make on their tackles, it was almost double,” Stuart said.

“You can’t keep giving away so much football, we’re just making it too difficult for ourselves.”

Stuart questioned a number of refereeing and bunker decisions, particularly the many six-on-a-ruck calls that took their toll on his team.

“We were on the wrong side of the gambling game again,” he said.

‘They just gamble, those six-in-a-rows, they just gamble.

‘I’ll give one away here, give one away there.’