12 months on the sidelines!

That's bad news for both him and the club. Given his age that could be very bad news.

Bloody hell

That’s sad to hear.

Despite the shirt he wears these days, that's sad news.

I think that this could be the end of his career. By all counts, he has ripped everything in his knee.

Awful news - huge blow for him and the club.

We didn’t need that but the first thoughts are with him. It could be the end if he doesn’t fancy the long rehab process at that age, which would be a shame. After all the years of us being given pelters from Saints fans for ‘tackling techniques’, it’s interesting to read plenty who didn’t see anything wrong with it. It’s a tackle that has been creeping in to the game, that they’ve been trying to clamp down on and this type of injury has been coming.

Sad news, thought Friday was his best game for us to date.

Hope to club support him as it will be a tough time for him mentally.

Tackle wasn’t intentional.

How do you know the tackle wasn’t intentional?
In the heat of battle Knowles must of been pretty peeved to have been mugged earlier in attempting to score the try.
Whilst not probably intending to badly hurt Cooper he still did using a poor tackle technique.

Hope he gets the assitance he needs and comes back stronger next year

Sad to hear when any player is out injured for the season especially from a bad tackle.
And considering Coopers age.
I like Knowles but he constantly pushes his aggression to the limit.

I think he will but his age is a big factor.

Bad ñews that don't like to see any player badly injured

Terrible news for the lad.

It’s a very long way back after injuries like these if confirmed.

12 months out followed by another 12-18 months getting back something like.

Remember when Hock and Lockers did similar and they struggled on their return for nearly a year.

It’s a terrible blow for the lad and the reality is it could be the end of his career.

I’m sure the club will stand by him and we don’t need to panic this year but it would be very brave of us to offer him a new deal now which is a shame as I think he was on course for one…not that it’s important at the moment. The clubs full attention needs to be on supporting him mentally and his rehab for his long term health.

When he was helped off you couldn't help but feel it was a bad one the plus side he looks a fit as a butchers whippet so I've no doubt he can get through this but as other have pointed out it's not just the initial time to recover its refinding his form and given hjs age it may be time for to call it a day.

Shame really he was turning in to shrewd signing by the club

thats shocking news. Hope he gets back for you guys.

Peet has just confirmed that it's as bad we feared.

Horrible news for him. Coming back from an injury like that at his age, especially without a pre-season, will be unbelievably tough.

I’m sure the club will support him through it and back him in whatever decision he makes on his future. It’s a really bad age for him to pick up an injury like that but if he wants to try and get back from it, I’m sure the club will stick to whatever the plan was regarding an extension.

On the flip side, it’s good to read Harvie Hill is back at the club and is being primed for a chance in the coming weeks. You never want to see a player get an opportunity in these circumstances but it’s been the way many times before that a young player takes a chance on the back of an issue like this.

Echo what everyone has said, really tough on the lad and a big decision for him and the club as he’s getting on and his contract is up with an option in favour of us I believe? If he’d continued as he has since joining and didn’t get injured I would have said it’s a no brainer to extend but extending a contract for a 35 year old coming off such a serious injury and a year on the sidelines is a big risk. The immediate thoughts are just trying to get healthy and rehab.

Personally it's gutting for Cooper, the wrong side of 30 for such an injury.

From the club side, him out now, Magi not playing is 2 props down. Mago needs to be moved on and someone signed for this season. JWH?

Wellens take on it...

We got a phone call from the Match Review Panel on Monday that Morgan Knowles had been charge with a Grade D,” Wellens said.

“What I would say in this situation is no coach or player wants players to suffer injuries but injuries are part and parcel of the sport. Ours is a collision sport and things can go wrong at times.

“I know Morgan Knowles as a person and how tough he plays the game and how honest a person is. He doesn’t go out on the field to injure players.

“I came off Twitter 12 months ago now for good reason, rugby league is about opinion and everyone has them. What social media does is it gives everyone a platform to share that opinion.

In the build up to when we are facing a tribunal it is important that it doesn’t become trial by social media.”

Wellens also revealed that Knowles is disappointed to hear of Cooper’s injury.

“Morgan is disappointed that a player is injured, he doesn’t go out on the field to injure an opponent. Morgan is disappointed with the situation that he finds himself in. Mike is a player I really like and have respected him for a long time.”

On the incident itself, Wellens didn’t go into detail.

We got the charge sheet and at this stage with the tribunal to follow, I can’t really say too much and let that process take its course,” Wellens continued.

“Should we need to comment after it then we will but with the process still ongoing, I think it’s better I say very little.”

Translation. I know it was a terrible tackle which has all but ended a career but please don’t give him too many matches.

There's very little else he can say until the actual hearing, as no doubt he will be there for character reference or worst case in an appeal scenario. if he says too much now, its likely to have an influence which he's trying to stay clear of

for whats its worth, and i think all coaches should do the same if they havent, he's done the best thing coming off social media. the chances of getting wound up by an oppo fan is all too easy, and possibly costly to a coach given that many fans want their opinion but cry like babies when someone comes back at them

reading between the lines too, he got away with one before the grand final last year, and ended another player season the week before with the same tackle technique **edit i'd seen a video and thought it was last week, but McGillvary was last season **, so Saints are expecting a hefty ban, but hopeful the he's a good egg keeps it down to 2-3 matches

Terrible news - hope he recovers quickly.

FWIW having watched the tackle a couple of times I can't see any sort of malice there at all. Maybe I don't understand the rules well enough or haven't seen the right angle to know exactly what he's done so wrong for people to be calling it a terrible tackle given the bodies in there. But if it has been earmarked as the sort of tackle that could cause serious injury and now it has, then the proof is in the pudding.

Anyway, the important thing is Mike Cooper and I desperately hope this isn't something that shortens his career. Get well soon MC.