A former Leeds Rhinos man saw his NRL debut end inside five minutes after a brutal collision led to a failed head injury assessment.

Morgan Gannon left Leeds Rhinos at the end of the 2025 season to sign a deal with NRL outfit New Zealand Warriors, for whom he made his debut in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Unfortunately for the 22-year-old, it wasn’t a fairytale first appearance with the second-rower helped from the field inside five minutes after he suffered a head knock when tackling Newcastle’s Jacob Saifiti.

Newcastle scored early on and it was Saifiti who carried the ball back from the restart with Gannon one of several tacklers but he was the man who came off worse with a Newcastle player immediately moving to ensure Gannon did not try to get up.

Physios quickly took to the field and did the same as they assessed Gannon before leading him off the field, where he subsequently failed a HIA.

It means he will certainly miss the Warriors game against Wests Tigers but it could well be more as Gannon is a player who has had a history of head injuries in the past.

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England international undergoes reconstructive shoulder surgery

Elsewhere in the NRL, another Englishman underwent surgery with Canberra Raiders’ Matty Nicholson sharing an image on social media to confirm that he had an operation on his shoulder.

Nicholson was previously ruled out and set to undergo reconstructive surgery on his shoulder after suffering an injury when playing reserve grade.

The Englishman is looking at a lengthy time on the sidelines of possibly around five months. He partially dislocated his shoulder for the second time meaning surgery was the solution and he’s now shared an image of himself in hospital.

Posting on Instagram, Nicholson appeared in a sling with considerable bruising across his chest and shoulder area with the ex-Wire man captioning the post: “Down but not out. Thank you for all the messages.”