Valentine Holmes leg injury set to impact his pre-season workout with the Dragons

St George Illawarra’s star recruit Valentine Holmes is not going to hit the ground running in 2025 after suffering a leg injury playing for the Cowboys on Friday night.

Marquee Dragons recruit Valentine Holmes is set to miss the start of St George Illawarra’s pre-season after suffering a suspected broken leg on Friday night.

Cowboys medicos fear Holmes sustained a broken fibula in the 26-18 semi-final loss to the Sharks at Allianz Stadium that ended North Queensland’s season.

Holmes will have scans on Monday and should the Cowboys’ worst fears be confirmed, the Maroons Origin star will be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

Valentine Holmes off late after what could’ve been seen as a non-contact injury - but contact mechanism occurred 8 minutes earlier when scoring.

Knee to outer calf brings main concern for significant contusion/cork, but worst case there could be an underlying fibula fracture. pic.twitter.com/K7xBWiq3W7

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) September 20, 2024

The Test flyer was outstanding in defeat, scoring two tries as the Cowboys’ best player before falling suddenly to the turf and being assisted up the tunnel by trainers in the dying minutes.

Holmes’ sudden collapse raised concerns of a snapped Achilles but Cowboys coach Todd Payten ruled that injury out.

The Dragons are banking on Holmes to add some pace and tryscoring punch to their backline next season and the goalkicking centre should return to full fitness before Christmas.

Holmes’ wing teammate Kyle Feldt suffered a calf injury in his final game for the Cowboys before linking with Super League club St Helens next season.