PENRITH legend Greg Alexander has dropped a bombshell by revealing winger Josh Mansour could miss the rest of the 2018 NRL season.

Mansour suffered a cheekbone injury when his head collided with Anthony Don’s knee on Sunday, and he had to leave the field clutching his face.

It was later revealed he would need surgery to repair the damage and would spend up to 12 weeks in the casualty ward.

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Round 20

But Alexander — who works as a halves consultant at the Panthers — told Fox Sports the representative winger could miss the remainder of the season.

“It was a nasty fracture, it was more than a fracture,” Alexander said.

“It’s done a lot of damage, there’s bone fragments in there, it’s not just a depressed fracture, it’s a lot more than that.

“Norm Southern, who has been our club doctor (since 1979) ... he said it’s the worst cheekbone injury he’s seen.

“Best case scenario for Josh is three months. Worse case scenario is he’ll need a bone graft and that could be his season.

“We’re hoping when he goes in there the doctors can put it back together and he might be on the field within 12 weeks.”

It’s a cruel blow for Mansour, who missed half the 2017 season after injuring his knee while on tour for the Kangaroos at the end of 2016.

He was all but ruled out of last year’s State of Origin series, where he would have almost certainly nailed down a wing spot for NSW.

He bounced back to be picked for Australia again and played two World Cup games last year.

Mansour will be replaced on Penrith’s wing by the returning Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for Sunday’s game against Cronulla.

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