St George Illawarra's premiership hopes have taken a huge hit with State of Origin prop Paul Vaughan ruled out of the remainder of the 2018 season.
The 27-year-old was recovering from a syndesmosis injury and was named in the reserves to potentially play against the Bulldogs in round 24.
But, a 'freak incident' occurred at training on Tuesday, and the Red V star suffered an injury to his other foot.
"Paul suffered a season-ending injury to his foot in a freak incident at training," Dragons Head of Athletic Performance Nathan Pickworth told the club's website.
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"Paul's foot injury occurred on the opposite leg to the one he previously suffered against the New Zealand Warriors in Round 21."
Vaughan himself was incredibly disappointed with the prognosis.
"I'm devastated that my season has come to an end so suddenly today," he said.
"However, I'll continue to support the boys for the rest of the year, and I look forward to coming back bigger and better in 2019."
Considering the Dragons coasted through the early parts of the season with no major injuries, the last few weeks has certainly evened out the playing field.
Playmaker Gareth Widdop has been ruled out until the first week of finals after dislocating his shoulder against the Parramatta Eels.
Widdop's shoulder dislocation remained a mystery after early scans were unable to clarify the length of the injury, however, Pickworth put a four-week return date on the skipper.
‘’He’s had some scans, he’s seen some specialists and he’s settling down really well,’’ Pickworth said.
‘’At this stage he’s come along as good as we could hope. I’m hoping around the four-week mark he will return to play which would be the first week of the finals.
‘’With Gaz and how professional he is and how hard he works he’ll be pushing as hard as he can to be back before that, but that’s the sort of ballpark we’re working towards at the moment.’’
Paul Vaughan was having the best year of his career and was rewarded with a spot in Brad Fittler's NSW State of Origin squad that took out the 2018 series, along with fellow Dragons forwards Jack de Belin, Tyson Frizell and Tariq Sims.
After signing from the Canberra Raiders back in 2017, Vaughan has played 42 matches for the Red V and has become integral in their make up.
In 2018, he has played 19 matches while averaging over 27 tackles and 126 metres per game.
