Luke Brooks had been managing a knee niggle in the lead-up to Manly's clash with Melbourne before suffering the ACL injury that threatens to end his season, teammate Jamal Fogarty has revealed.
Brooks is expected to miss the remainder of the season after injuring his knee during the Sea Eagles' victory over the Storm, in what looks to be a cruel blow to Manly's premiership hopes.
While Fogarty stressed the issue earlier in the week wasn't considered serious, he admitted Brooks had been dealing with discomfort before the devastating setback.
"He'd kind of had a little bit of a niggle during the week at training, but I didn't think it was anything too serious," Fogarty said.
The injury has left many questioning how Manly will cope without one of its most influential players, with Fogarty backing the club's next generation to step up.
"It's obviously very sad and disappointing for Brooksy," he said. "I think this is probably the best footy that I've probably seen Brooksy play in most of his career and he's been one of our best every single week for the last 15 weeks.
"It's just a cruel part of the game. It's going to knock him around a little bit, but we've got a great coaching staff and a great playing group that's going to get around him and his family to make sure he's okay. We take pride in making sure we look after our own."
Teenage playmaker Joey Walsh now appears set for an extended opportunity in the halves alongside Fogarty.
Fogarty has little doubt Walsh has the talent to become one of the club's long-term stars, but pleaded for patience as the highly rated youngster prepares for the biggest opportunity of his young career.
"He's got a little bit of flavour about him," Fogarty said. "He's not afraid to put his body on the line and he's not afraid to risk a couple of things as well, which I think our team needs at times.
"We all know Joey's a wonderful football player. He's going to be the star half of the club moving forward for years to come. But we just need the media to let Joey go about his business.
"When you've got a kid coming through, don't judge him off the first 10 games. Let him get to 50, 60, 70 NRL games and then make a judgement on whether he's a good or bad player.
"There's going to be times where he's killing it and everyone's loving him, and then the minute he has a bad game those same people are going to bring him down quite quickly.
"We've got full faith in what Joey can bring to our squad. We just need to protect him."
Fogarty said replacing Brooks would not fall solely on Walsh's shoulders, stressing Manly's success has been built on a collective mentality rather than individual performances.
"We play a team sport," he said. "If someone has a bad game, that's not on that individual.
"I had a pretty poor game last week. Then you get the opportunity to bounce back, you win, and everyone wants to be your friend again. It doesn't matter who we roll out there. We win together and we lose together."
The veteran halfback also credited rookie coach Kieran Foran for helping him play his best football after an inconsistent start to the season for Manly.
Fogarty said Foran had simplified his role this season, encouraging him to embrace his strengths as Manly's chief organiser.
"He just lets me back myself and go after games," Fogarty said. "He knows the team needs me to be the general, to steer them around and kick well. When I'm doing that, obviously we're going to be able to perform well."
"He fills me with a lot of confidence and even when I do make mistakes, he still pumps my tyres up.
"Whether we lose or win, he comes in exactly the same. He's happy, upbeat and never dwells on things. That's been great for our group."
Fogarty also revealed former Raiders captain Jarrod Croker continues to mentor him as a goal-kicker, with the club legend helping improve his consistency over the past five years.
"My consistency has gone up since he's been my mentor and I'm just grateful to be able to work with him," Fogarty said.