Long lay-off:

With the 26-year-old’s injury having become infected, he will not be able to undergo the knee microfracture surgery required until that’s been cleared up.

And even though it’s hoped that initial process won’t take too much longer, the nature of his surgery means Lawrence won’t be seen in the claret and gold again for a number of months.

“Yes, it’s not a good one,” revealed Stone, who lost Lawrence in the second game of the season at home to Salford Red Devils.

“At the moment, we’re just waiting for the infection to clear and take it from there, but it’s certainly not a short-term fix with Bruno. It’ll be the summer before we can think about seeing him again.”

The Giants are, of course, also without fellow back-row forward Tom Symonds for around four weeks following his successful knee surgery in the wake of picking up an injury in the openingnight win at Widnes.

Stone, however, knows he’ll definitely have one major pack power back in action for Friday’s trip to Super League new boys Leigh Centurions, with Ukuma Ta’ai ready to return after serving a one-match ban.

And the experienced Australian coach is also hopeful another second-rower, Dale Ferguson, has made a full recovery from the groin injury that kept him out of the side well beaten by Hull last time out.

Salford coach Ian Watson hailed the grit and determination of his side as they picked up a 24-14 win against Warrington.

Junior Sa’u scored twice for the hosts to help them to their first win over Warrington in 10 meetings

“It was a great response from us,” said Watson. “We showed grit and determination especially after a few 50/50 calls went