Tupou sidelined but counting his lucky stars

Tupou, the 23-year-old brother of Test star Anthony Tupou, played out the full game and did not experience any symptoms until almost 24 hours later.

Knights doctor Neil Halpin has since diagnosed a bulging disc in the back-rower's neck.

He is unlikely to play again this season but Halpin remains optimistic the injury will not end his career.

"He's been very lucky, because the pain came on the following night," Halpin said yesterday.

"He didn't have that much pain at the time.

"He's been bloody lucky.

"To put it bluntly, you don't like using the word quadriplegia, but that was certainly a possible outcome for him.

"Given the size of the disc protrusion, he could have done serious and permanent spinal cord damage."

Halpin said Tupou's playing future hinged on whether the protruding disc could repair itself without surgery.

"It'll be a month or so before we know how it's likely to resolve," he said.

"What we're hoping is that the disc will shrink back, largely into place, and if that's the case, that's all we need do. If it doesn't shrink back, we'd have to consider doing surgery on him to fuse the disc, and I'd be pretty reluctant for him to play on with that.

"One, because it reduces the flexibility of the neck, but also because it puts further stress on the other levels.

"At this stage it certainly is quite possible that he'll miss the rest of the season.

"As for career-threatening, I think that's probably being a bit dramatic at the moment."

Central coach Rick Stone said Tupou had "made every post a winner this year".

"Of our part-time players, he's up near the top of the tree," Stone said.

Ironically, Tupou's younger brother Jon comes into the Central squad for today's home game against Wests.