St Helens have confirmed that scrum-half Luke Walsh will be sidelined for "four or five months" with a broken leg.
The Australian was stretchered off in the Super League leaders' 44-22 win over Widnes Vikings on Friday.
Saints coach Nathan Brown was quick to rule him out for the remainder of the campaign and, following successful surgery, the club now know the extent of the injury, which will keep Brown out of action until Christmas.
"He's basically snapped his fibula," Brown told reporters. "He's had surgery with the plate and bolts and all the type of things that go in and he'll be four or five months.
"It was as good a result as you could expect. It could have been worse."
Walsh has joined Lance Hohaia, Jonny Lomax and Jon Wilkin on the Saints treatment table.
