Hughes felt calf 'pop' as Storm injuries mount

Melbourne No.7 Jahrome Hughes (centre) played most of the win over Gold Coast with an injured calf.

Melbourne halfback Jahrome Hughes said he felt his calf “pop” early in the 22-20 win over Gold Coast and is no certainty to play against Cronulla in the NRL’s top-of-the-table clash.

Hughes’s injury came on the back of a lower-leg fracture to gun fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen and a knee problem for winger Sua Faalogo, who had filled in when Storm’s No.1 went off.

Faalogo had earlier left the field for an HIA, which he passed before returning.

Hughes is keen to line up against the Sharks on Saturday but was unsure whether he would be fit.

“In the first 10 minutes I felt (my calf),” Hughes told AAP after the win at Robina.

“I am not too sure exactly what it is, just that it is in my calf. I felt it pop.

“I feel as though I won’t be playing next week, but I will get scans and hopefully it is not too bad.

“I want to play but it is still pretty sore at the moment.”

When asked why he remained on the field, Hughes said: “I was keen to come off but then the boys started dropping like flies.

“Poor Paps got injured again and Sua came off.

“I spoke to the physio and asked if I should stay on and he said, ‘So long as it doesn’t get any worse’.

“I felt like a bit of a traffic cone out there for a while. I was there, but I wasn’t really there.”

Storm coach Craig Bellamy knows he will be without Papenhuyzen for upto six weeks, while Faalogo was also hobbling after the game.

Utility Ryan Wishart could be called on, or Nick Meaney switched from centre to play No.1 against the Sharks.

“We had a bad night with injuries, especially our fullbacks,” Bellamy said.

“Ryan Wishart did a good job there when he came on. When Sua went off the second time he felt something in his knee.

“They are not too sure what that is, so we will have to get that checked out too.”

Bellamy praised the commitment of Hughes to play through the pain.

“Hughesy is an example of our resilience,” Bellamy said.

“He felt his calf in the first 10 minutes but because it was so early in the game, and because of our injuries, we asked him to hang in here.

“He didn’t run the ball much but he hung in for us and that is showing the resilience we (have) probably lacked the last couple of years.”

The Storm have won seven matches this season, six of them by eight points or fewer, in a sign of the grit they have added to their game.

“People on the outside say that we are just winning games, and probably think we should be winning by heaps of points,” Hughes said.

“You’d rather win close games than not win them.

“There is a lot of fight in this team at the moment and we are going to need that to contend at the end of the year.”