Spinal hit rules out reserve fullback

COWBOYS contracted fullback Carlin Anderson is expected to miss several months of rugby league after a spinal injury last weekend.

The Mackay Cutters allocated player was stretchered off the field during Mackay’s Queensland Cup clash against Easts Tigers, with the Cowboys confirming Anderson had suffered a fracture to his T6 vertebrae.

Anderson also suffered heavy concussion after copping knees to his head and back from multiple Tigers chasers after standing in a low position to field a kick.

The Cowboys said it was too early to determine a specific timeline for Anderson’s return but said it would be a long recovery.

“He’s back here now, he’s walking around, he came in for a check-up (at the club). He got out of hospital on Sunday,” a Cowboys spokesman said.

The setback is the latest in a string of disappointments for Anderson.

The former Townsville Blackhawks fullback suffered a serious jaw and facial injury while playing for the Ipswich Jets in 2016, preventing him from a shot at the NRL while contracted to the Broncos.

He finished the following Queensland Cup season as the competition’s leading point scorer for the Blackhawks, but a broken arm in their final regular season game meant he missed the finals campaign.

A serious hand injury then took 12 weeks from his maiden season with the Cowboys last year after he tore a hand tendon playing for the Blackhawks in Round 5.

Cutters coach Steve Sheppard said Anderson would be hard to replace.

“It disappointed the group a fair bit because it wasn’t really pretty,” he said. “He was lucky to get on the plane this morning, but he’s back in Townsville ... so he’ll see the Cowboys staff during the week to get more of an indication.”