South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Liam Knight suffers season-ending knee injury from cannonball tackle

Eels winger Solomone Naiduki is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines after a shocking cannonball tackle, which has ended the season of his opponent. GRAPHIC WARNING

Daniel Suluka-Fifita’s early arrival at South Sydney has come as the Rabbitohs reel from the devastating loss of forward Liam Knight to a horror cannonball tackle.

Knight’s season was brought to a shattering end playing in the NSW Cup on Saturday night when Eels winger Solomone Naiduki speared in at his legs while he was being held by two other Parramatta players.

The impact tore the anterior cruciate ligament in Knight’s right knee and Rabbitohs officials confirmed on Monday that Knight’s season was over.

Naiduki will miss up to three matches after being charged with grade three dangerous contact over the incident, which occurred during the Eels’ 16-14 win over the Rabbitohs.

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Liam Knight’s season is over.

The Fiji-born flyer has scored four tries in 12 NSW Cup matches for the Eels and has been included in Parramatta’s extended NRL squad on a number of occasions, but is yet to make his top-grade debut as the club works with the winger’s raw talent.

Knight’s season-ending injury eats into the club’s depth as they fight for their place in the top eight. The Rabbitohs are seventh with a two-point buffer over ninth-placed Manly.

Nasty tackle on Liam Knight resulting in a season ending ACL injury in NSW Cup (via @brentread_7). High force contact to outside of lower leg, causing knee to buckle in = textbook contact ACL injury mechanism (risk for MCL/meniscus damage too). Surgery & 6-9 months recovery ahead pic.twitter.com/iMTCKQuCWd

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 4, 2022

Suluka-Fifita, a Rabbitohs junior, had agreed to join Souths next season on a three-year deal but gained an immediate release from his contract at the Roosters, after they signed Matt Lodge for the rest of 2022.

Daniel Suluka-Fifita cops 10 minutes for his Jai Arrow punch last year.

Suluka-Fifita played 20 matches for the Roosters since making his debut as a 20-year-old against the Titans in 2020. Prior to that, he was a member of Souths’ SG Ball Cup and Harold Matthews Cup squads between 2014 and 2017, playing alongside current Rabbitohs stars Cameron Murray and Campbell Graham.

It will be an interesting reunion with Souths forward Jai Arrow after Suluka-Fifita was suspended for punching the Rabbitohs star during a spiteful match in March last year.

Suluka-Fifita was sin-binned for ‘rabbit punching’ Arrow while he was being held on the ground, in a hit the Queensland Origin forward labelled a “one out of 10”.

He then compounded his brain explosion and faced further disciplinary action for spraying water at a Channel 9 cameraman as he left the field of play.