Roosters Grand Final hero Shaun Kenny-Dowall played 75 minutes with broken jaw

ROOSTERS hero Shaun Kenny-Dowall has booked a place in rugby league folklore alongside legendary tough man John Sattler.

LONG after the gladiators had left the arena, a memento of their toughness remained on the turf.

It belonged to Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall. It was one of his rear teeth. It was dislodged around five minutes into the game, on one of his very first hit-ups.

And for the remaining 75 minutes Kenny-Dowall continued.

No-one knew he’d also suffered a fractured jaw, which books the Kiwi centre a place in grand final folklore just beneath the great John Sattler, who played most of the 1970 grand final with the same injury.

Kenny-Dowall’s effort was the courageous high point of a bruising encounter that saw centre partner Michael Jennings suffer a possible slipped disc in his neck after scoring a miraculous match-sealing try six minutes from the siren.

Prop Luke O’Donnell also re-tore his hamstring, which had kept him out of last week’s grand final qualifier.

But Kenny-Dowall was the story.

Speaking with left side of his face swollen thanks to the injury that could end his World Cup hopes, Kenny-Dowall said he kept the pain a secret to ensure his team was not disadvantaged.

"It happened on one of my first hit ups," he said.

"My whole tooth came out and my mouth kept filling-up with blood.

"I didn’t want to tell anyone. I didn’t want people to think that I was injured or struggling."

"It was pretty painful."

Kenny-Dowall had to wait until after full-time for relief in the form of a morphine shot.

Asked about the Sattler legend, Kenny-Dowall played a humble hand.

"I would not compare it to him," he said.

"I’m not sure of the scenario. I’ll find out in the next couple of days. I just didn’t want to let my team mates down."

Kenny-Dowall also played six weeks of the season with rib cartilage damage, recovering from poor form to play a vital role in Sunday night’s victory, scoring the second half try which put the Roosters back in front.

Roosters doctor John Orchard said the most likely scenario was a hairline fracture.

"But I somehow don’t think he will want to go to hospital over the next couple of days," Orchard said.

Orchard also added that Jennings would require more tests for his neck injury, which could see the NSW Origin sensation scratched from Australia’s 24-man World Cup squad.