'Not looking good': Knights star's nightmare initial diagnosis after ...

There are fears Knights playmaker Jackson Hastings has suffered yet another severe injury from a hip-drop tackle, with the intense debate around the act set to reignite.

Hastings was the victim of an ugly hip drop tackle from Broncos forward Pat Carrigan last year, which resulted in a season-ending leg injury for the Knights half and a four-game suspension for the Brisbane star.

Hastings suffered what looked another serious injury on Sunday against the Bulldogs after a Jacob Preston hip drop tackle, which resulted in the Canterbury forward going to the bin for ten minutes.

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“A hip drop motion from Jacob Preston. It was a hip drop that broke Hastings’ leg and displaced his ankle ... here he is in a similar position,” Warren Smith said on Fox League.

“The way he (Preston) loses his feet and his feet swing wildly around the other side of the tackle and his hip comes back on the top of Hastings.

“Something that has crept into the game, almost by osmosis as much as anything but it needs to be eradicated. That was a serious one right there.”

The Knights half was withering in pain after Preston’s tackle for a number of minutes. Thankfully, he was able to stand up and limp off the field however, a shot of him on the sideline showed his ankle “heavily iced”.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Adam O’Brien confirmed initial diagnosis of Hastings’ injury was a syndesmosis blow.

“Not looking good, he is in there with a boot now so they are talking syndesmosis. Fingers crossed on that one, he will get scans tomorrow,” O’Brien said.

“Sometimes you are just trying to bring a guy down, I haven’t had a good look at this one, but naturally disappointed it has caused an injury.”

Skipper Kalyn Ponga was also frustrated to see his star halfback sidelined.

“Even if it was the opposition, you don’t want to see anyone getting injuries,” Ponga said.

“Jacko has done a massive job for us, now it is probably about us not picking up his slack, just being accountable for our jobs.

“We know what we are coming up against over the next three weeks.”

The NRL Physio confirmed that Hastings could be off the field for at least four weeks if his injury is deemed ‘high grade’.

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After the incident Bulldogs captain Reed Mahoney tried in vain to plead his case to referee Peter Gough, but it fell on deaf ears.

“His arse is on the ground, he’s trying to pull him down,” Mahoney said.

It would be the Bulldogs’ second sin binning in seven minutes, which left them playing two men down for three minutes.

“It was a textbook hip drop,” Corey Parker said at halftime.

“Jacob Preston could be in some trouble after that hip drop as you see Hastings will not return so could have a severe injury.”