‘A hot dog bun with flesh hanging out’: Knights star’s emergency surgery on gruesome injury

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Newcastle Knights forward Kai Pearce-Paul has opened up on the moment he looked down at his leg and noticed a massive wound which left it looking like a “hot dog bun”, requiring emergency surgery.

England international Pearce-Paul, whose coach Adam O’Brien described the gruesome injury as similar to a shark bite, has been told there’s a chance he could play in the Knights’ final round match with a shin pad protecting the injury.

The 23-year-old limped from the field in Newcastle’s season-saving win against the Rabbitohs last Saturday night with a gaping wound in his shin, the result of friendly fire from teammate Dylan Lucas’ boot.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. Newcastle Knights star Kai Pearce-Paul’s leg injury.

Pearce-Paul was rushed into surgery on Sunday morning to clean and close the cut, which stretched almost 15cm down his shin.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know [at the time],” Pearce-Paul told this masthead.

“I only really noticed a couple of plays later when there was a stoppage. I looked down and thought it was just like any old graze. Then I looked again and I’ve gone, ‘Oh’. It was open and it was like a hot dog bun with a bit of flesh hanging out.

“I’m next to [team-mate] Phoenix Crossland and I’m like, ‘Phoen, is that my bone?’ There was white through the middle. He swore when he saw it. I literally walked straight to the doctor. I don’t know whether it was the bone or the flesh that was a different colour, but it was that deep – and it wasn’t nice.”

Pearce-Paul needed Newcastle’s medical staff to delicately treat the injury in the dressing sheds before he was taken to hospital that night.

By the next morning he was undergoing surgery to clean the wound before having both internal and external stitches applied to close the gash.

But despite O’Brien saying the injury made him feel sick, teammates were amazed at Pearce-Paul’s calmness on the sidelines – even taking time to inspect the damage himself.

“I’m actually quite good with things like that,” he said. “I was more in disbelief than anything. I didn’t really understand how it happened. It was more shock and I was just thinking, ‘what the hell has happened here?’

“[But] I was quite interested when they were checking it out. I’m not too squeamish. The boys said I looked really casual when they were checking it out. It’s just a long chunk out of the leg. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt as much as I thought.”

Pearce-Paul will miss the Knights’ must-win clash against the Titans this weekend, but will wait on medical advice to see if he can return for the final round showdown against the Dolphins, which could decide Newcastle’s finals fate.

Doctors have already discussed the prospect of Pearce-Paul strapping a shin pad to his leg to protect it from further damage.

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