Jeremy Thurston injured in Dubbo CYMS' win over Mudgee Dragons

CYMS were attacking close to the line when Thurston went down in a tackle and was left in visible pain on the turf.

While he managed to limp off the field with some assistance from the CYMS trainers, there was immediate concern about the severity of the injury.

"He's a bit despondent. He thinks he's done something to his knee," CYMS coach Shawn Townsend said at full-time.

"He's had a couple of knee reconstructions in the past so I think he's just fearing the worst. He's a bit down.

"But he's a pretty happy fella so hopefully he'll be alright."

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The injury wasn't enough to stop CYMS scoring one of their better wins of the season.

Thurston was heavily involved in a number of tries, firstly in the first half when he opted to run it on the last and his offload to Jyie Chapman led to a try for Corey Drew, while in the second half his neat offload to Ratu Roko put the winger over in the corner.

Roko's effort helped the Fishies out to a 18-6 lead at the time.

The Dragons hit back via Tom Lawson with 11 minutes to go but CYMS were able to hang on thanks to some brave defence.

Thurston has already had a busy 2023 season as he starred for the Western Rams' representative side during their run to semi-finals of the Country Championships.

He's also played a in a number of knockouts early in the year while he has again been a key man for the Fishies.

Thurston was the top try-scorer during the 2022 Peter McDonald Premiership season and is on track to do the double as he had 11 four-pointers to his name and was two clear at the top of the leaderboard on Saturday.

While CYMS don't want to be without one of the competition's best players for any extended period, Townsend admitted a brief layoff could be a blessing in disguise.

"He's played a lot of footy," Townsend said.

"He probably needs a rest and it might be a forced rest but he should be alright."

Having started the season at fullback, Thurston has started at five-eighth in each of the past two matches as Townsend continues to tinker with his side.

Regular No. 6 Claude Gordon returned from the bench at Mudgee and when he entered the match in the second half, Thurston shifted back to the centres.

Versatile CYMS youngster Mitch Cleary also failed to finish Saturday's match after copping a blow to the eye.

The Fishies will also wait to see if anything comes of lock Chanse Burgess being put on report while his brother, Mudgee prop Casey, was also put on report for a separate incident.

Continuing the similarities between the competition's top two, Mudgee centre Corin Smith also exited the match with a knee injury in the second half.

As for the result, Townsend was pleased by his side's defence and it moved CYMS two points clear of Mudgee at the top of the overall ladder.

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