Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo says in-form fullback Connor Tracey suffered an abdominal injury in their big win over Manly on Sunday.
Speaking exclusively to 7NEWS, Ciraldo played down suggestions it would be a significant setback.
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7NEWS Sydney’s Jelisa Apps explained: “Initially when this information came to us earlier today, it was described as being much more serious, potentially even needing surgery — but Ciraldo says that isn’t the case.
“There was a moment in the first half of the game yesterday where you could see Connor Tracey tackle Tom Trbojevic and looked like he was in some discomfort.
“But it certainly didn’t slow him down; on the very next play, he was trying to perform a try-saving tackle and he ran for over 300 metres.
“If Cameron Ciraldo does have to make a little bit of a shuffle to cover that fullback position, it isn’t the easiest position for him to fill.
“Blake Taaffe, who perhaps would have come into the side to fill that position, he’s also out with a hamstring injury, so it may mean moving one of those bigger stars from their preferred position.
“Cameron Ciraldo’s had to do a lot of shuffling lately to fit Lachie Galvin into the side and, it has to be said, both he and the Bulldogs have handled it beautifully.”

Galvin’s halves partner Matt Burton expects another week of headlines will bring out the best in Galvin ahead of a hotly-anticipated first clash with former club Wests Tigers.
Galvin’s messy mid-season split with the Tigers has been the story of the NRL season as the generational talent jumped ship from a team rebuild that had centred around him.
After beginning his time at the Bulldogs on the bench, Galvin now appears to have found his feet in two games at halfback, first throwing the match-winning pass against St George Illawarra in Round 20.
He and Burton combined seamlessly on Sunday as the Bulldogs romped to their biggest win of the season yet, a 42-4 hiding of top-eight hopefuls Manly.
“(Galvin) is dangerous and his decision-making is some of the best I’ve seen. We’ll just keep building on that and get better,” Burton said.
Galvin has found himself at the centre of a media circus since arriving at the Bulldogs given his raw talent, the nature of his Tigers exit and uncertainty as to how the premiership hopefuls would use him.

The scrutiny is poised to flare up again as Galvin meets the Tigers on Sunday for the first time since leaving in late May.
“He’ll just go to another level and get better from that (scrutiny),” Burton said.
“That won’t faze him at all. There’s going to be a lot of talk and that, but whatever’s in these four walls, we just stick together and we don’t worry about that.
“It’s like he’s a 26-year-old in a 20-year-old’s body, he’s got that maturity about him. He just works hard, wants to get better. He’s only getting started, which is exciting.”
The Bulldogs reaped the rewards from reconfiguring their attack in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash with Manly.
Canterbury had averaged only 14 points across the previous month, with coach Cameron Ciraldo conceding at full-time against the Sea Eagles that the Bulldogs’ attack “wasn’t really working”.
The changes revolved mostly around simplifying the attack, and spine players linking up better through the middle of the park..
“There were just a few adjustments that we had to make. I thought it worked really well tonight, me and Galvin connecting there and the spine through the middle,” Burton said.
“We just gained so much momentum off that. We’ll go back to training, get better. Obviously there’s still a lot to work on there but we were happy with that.”
- With AAP
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