Josh Addo-Carr in devastating update as hamstring injury revealed as 'worst-case scenario'

The Canterbury Bulldogs are set to be without Josh Addo-Carr for an extended period after Phil Gould revealed he's suffered a high-grade hamstring tear. The winger did his hammy in the Bulldogs' 32-2 thrashing of the Newcastle Knights on Friday, but the club were hopeful it wasn't too serious.

But Gould - the club's football manager - took to social media on Saturday to reveal Addo-Carr will likely miss between eight and 10 weeks. Gould said Addo-Carr has a 'high-grade hamstring tear', ruining his hopes of winning a State of Origin recall for NSW.

'NRL Physio' Brien Seeney said it was basically the "worst-case scenario" for Addo-Carr. "Pretty much worst case scenario with sprinting style mechanism - plus extra rehab considerations for a player so reliant on top end speed/explosive acceleration," Seeney wrote on social media.

It comes as a brutal new blow for the Bulldogs, who are already missing Viliame Kikau due to a finger injury. The rampaging back-rower had to undergo surgery last week and will miss 4-6 weeks.

Addo-Carr had scored a first-half double on Thursday night before the cruel injury blow. "He's moving OK. Hopefully it's nothing too serious," Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo said after full-time. "But obviously it wasn't a good sign that he couldn't finish the game."

The Bulldogs showed plenty of adversity after Addo-Carr went down - and they'll have to keep it up if they want to maintain their spot in the top-eight. They also had two players sin-binned on Thursday night but kept the Knights from scoring a try.

"We've got good people who want to work hard and they love each other," Ciraldo said. "Whenever you've got that, you're going to be hard to break down. I just love watching them defend at the moment."

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Bulldogs frustrated by Matt Burton's absence for State of Origin

Canterbury were also forced to play without star five-eighth Matt Burton, who has been picked as 18th man for NSW. Because the 18th man is part of the game-day team and can be activated if a player is ruled out because of foul play, Burton couldn't be released from NSW camp to play on Friday night.

The situation left Ciraldo frustrated considering it keeps happening to Burton. "We want guys playing Origin," the coach said this week. "The type of club we're trying to build, we want to get as many people with Origin experience as we can.

"But frustrated is probably (the right word). Burto's been 18th man three times in the last 12 months. We know he's going to be a better player for being around those type of places, but we just wish he would be able to play and then go and be 18th man."

Ciraldo also said Michael Maguire's decision to pick Zac Lomax on the wing for NSW ahead of Addo-Carr came as a surprise. Addo-Carr played all three games in last year's series and is NSW's joint top-tryscorer of all time with 11 in 15 appearances.

"Josh is certainly an Origin player," Ciraldo said. "Josh has been in really good form lately, we like what he's doing for our team. That's what he's focused on."

with AAP