Kieran Foran might have played his last game for the Warriors after the Bulldogs-bound five-eighth was forced off late with a back injury as his side fell to a 36-18 loss to the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
The 2011 premiership winner injured his back when he was tackled after putting in a kick midway through the second half, and while he was able to battle on for 10 minutes, the decision was made to take him off with the game out of reach.
"I'm not too sure. I'll get the doctor to assess me when we get back to the hotel and we'll go from there," Foran replied when asked whether he would return in 2017.
"It was just after the kick. I landed awkwardly on the bottom of my back so I'm in a bit of pain at the moment.
"The shoulder feels alright; it's pulled through OK. It's just the way that I landed after the kick…it's a bit sore at the moment."
Foran's arrival at the start of the season was meant to spark a year to remember for the Warriors but it's been anything but that with the New Zealanders sliding down the ladder after falling to their seventh consecutive defeat.
The representative star has only managed 16 games this season due to hamstring and shoulder injuries and his latest setback could ultimately be the end of his Warriors career.
"It's been difficult. It's hard when you're on a losing run like this," he said.
"Confidence is low but we're sticking together, we're hanging in there and we've got to try to turn it around somehow."
Foran's predicament wasn't lost on Warriors coach Stephen Kearney.
"It has been a tough year for him. If it's not one thing it's another and that's been a challenge for him in that sense. Obviously that's had a bit of an impact on the team," he said.
"We'll get 17 guys representing the football club next game, and with our last game at home, we'll try to muster up an effort and a performance to work our way out of the situation we find ourselves in. That's the only way we can look at it."
Kearney said it was too early to say whether Foran would be fit to take on his former side the Sea Eagles next Sunday, adding he had full faith in young playmakers Ata Hingano and Mason Lino should the 27-year-old be ruled out.
"It's very hard to say. We've got a Sunday match so it's a pretty long turnaround," he said.
"We've got a couple of young guys who've come in over the last couple of weeks and I thought they've performed pretty well. If he's not available then both Ata and Mason will do a pretty good job."
