Jack Bird had scans on his injured elbow earlier today with scans revealing that even if selected for the Kangaroos the Sharks Premiership winning centre would have been unable to take part in the Four Nations tournament which begins on Saturday week.
Bird was injured in the first half of the victory over the Storm, hyper-extending his elbow when he was fallen on by Sharks skipper Paul Gallen while attempting a tackle.
He courageously played on, with his second half performance going a long way towards steering the Sharks to their history making win.
“Jack was basically ruled out of the Four Nations as soon as the incident occurred,” Sharks High Performance Manager Andrew Gray said.
“He has severely ruptured ligaments in his elbow. He will visit a specialist to see what happens next however we expect him to be fit and ready to go before the start of the 2017 season.”
Virtually with one arm Bird was inspirational for the Sharks in the second half, his strong charges in the middle of the field bending back the Melbourne defence on numerous occasions in running for 162 metres on the night.
Bird also capably handled his opposite numbers in the Storm backline in what was a complete performance from the 21 year old.
Sosaia Feki was also injured in the Grand Final when twisted awkwardly in a lifting tackle in the second half of the match. The early diagnosis indicated a medial ligament strain.
