It was a frightening sight for all in the yellow and blue jersey on Friday evening when an awkward landing left Mitchell Moses clutching at his calf.
Moses made his highly-anticipated return with the Eels against the Broncos following a seven-week stint on the sidelines due to a calf injury he suffered in NSW Blues camp.
But after just 30 minutes on the field, Moses appeared to be back under an injury cloud.
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The star playmaker attempted to grubber through the Broncos line on the last tackle when he collided with Ezra Mam and fell to the turf.
Moses immediately clutched at his left calf on the ground before returning to his feet in visible discomfort to limp towards the sideline.
“That’s not what you want to see,” Nine caller Peter Psaltis said.
Mitchell Moses clutches at his calf. Nine
The 30-year-old remained out wide for the Eels in the next set but managed to inject himself back into the game shortly after and send Zac Lomax over out wide.
Moses barely held onto the ball when he dropped it to his boot to place a perfect chip over the top of the Broncos line and into the path of a storming Lomax.
Earlier, Bronco Xavier Willison was reported for a late and low tackle on Junior Paulo.
Paulo stood tall as two of Willison’s teammates attempted to bring him to the ground when the Broncos prop dived at Paulo’s legs late.
The Eels prop managed to return to his feet but appeared to be in pain as a penalty goal was sensationally taken by Lomax from 40 metres out.
Adam Reynolds levelled the scores at 2-2 in the 16th minute following a penalty for an escort play by Josh Addo-Carr.
An impressive try-scoring effort by Sean Russell was then matched by the Broncos skipper just three minutes later.
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Reynolds ignited a fierce foot race through the middle after he intercepted Dean Hakwins’ pass on his own 30m to power down the field and score.
It looked to be a close call as he approached the 10m line with a heavy chase but eventually he made it with the help of a dewy surface.
“Look at him, he is sucking in the big ones,” Billy Slater said in commentary on Nine.
“That is brilliant… he leaves two yellow jerseys behind him and then it was a footrace.”
“That 65m probably felt like 650,” Darren Lockyer added.
The energy that was drained in his impressive sprint saw Reece Walsh called up for goal kicking duties, which he successfully completed.
The Broncos lead the Eels 14-12 at half time.