Newcastle Knights fume as Kai Pearce-Paul arrives with 'serious' injury: 'It doesn't look good'

That’s according to the Wide World of Sports, with reports that the NRL club have been rocked by the news that one of their new recruits could miss the start of the 2024 campaign after playing this year’s season with pain-killing needles at Wigan Warriors.

Pearce-Paul, 22, recently arrived down under alongsie Huddersfield’s Will Pryce ahead of their new NRL careers, having both signed with Adam O’Brien’s squad on two-year deals.

The back-rower featured in the 10-2 Super League Grand Final victory over Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford but was ruled out of the end-of-season test series against Tonga due to injury, having made his England debut during last year’s World Cup.

"His foot has serious problems and we are still doing tests but at this early stage it doesn't look good," a Knights source told WWOS.

"If he needs surgery he probably won't be fit for the early stages of the season.

"He pulled out of the test series against Tonga hoping to get the foot right but we are getting reports that he played a lot of last season with pain-killing needles at Wigan, which we are not very happy about.

“Hopefully he can get over it and avoid the knife. We will just have to wait and see.”

Pearce-Paul made 23 appearances during the 2023 season, scoring three tries and was named to start for Super League’s showcase event in Manchester earlier in October.