Canterbury Bulldogs second-rower Viliame Kikau has suffered a fractured finger and will miss between four and six weeks.
The club’s director of football Phil Gould took to Twitter/X on Monday morning to reveal the news, with the powerhouse second-rower suffering the broken finger during last weekend’s heavy win over the St George Illawarra Dragons.
“Viliame Kikau will undergo surgery today, to repair a nasty compound fracture of his ring finger, sustained during last week’s game … Recovery time is expected to be from 4-6 weeks depending on the surgery today…” Gould wrote on his account.
The win for the Bulldogs was the first time the club have scored more than 40 points in a game since the middle of 2016.
The win, which snapped a two-game losing streak for the blue and white who have been well ahead of expectation this season, also moves the Bulldogs back to within just two points of the top eight.
They sit in tenth spot on the ladder at the end of Round 12.
Replacing Kikau will be easier said than done though, with the club now likely to bring Jacob Preston or Josh Curran onto the edge to partner Jaeman Salmon, who started alongside Kikau in the win over the Red V.
Kikau has played all 11 games so far this year, only spending a combined 24 minutes on the bench to average 115 metres per game and add 18 offloads.