Newcastle’s NRL title hopes have taken a massive hit with the club set to rely on a makeshift, fourth-choice dummy half for the rest of the season.

The Knights lost veteran Andrew McCullough and his replacement Connor Watson to season-ending injuries in a horror 18-12 loss to last-placed Canterbury on Sunday, having already lost Jayden Brayley earlier in the season.

While coach Adam O’Brien was seething over a performance that dropped then from fourth to sixth, the long-term repercussions are far greater.

McCullough’s left hamstring was torn off the bone in a tackle, while Watson was carried off six minutes later with a ruptured achilles tendon.

Twenty-year-old halfback Phoenix Crossland is now the most likely choice to play hooker, and could find himself opposing alltime great Cameron Smith when the Knights face the Storm next Sunday despite having just one NRL game last year to his name.

Other possibilities are fellow one-gamer Chris Randall and playmaker Mason Lino.

“We’ve got an option with Phoenix,” O’Brien said.

“He’s done a hell of a job over the last however long we’ve been back together with his defence.

“So I’m really confident in his ability to defend. He’s quite strong, he’s put some size on.

“Chris Randall we debuted earlier in the year is also an option.”

The only other possibility for the Knights would be to alter their halves, moving Kurt Mann to hooker and playing versatile Tex Hoy at five-eighth.

Regardless, the scenario will spook long-suffering Knights fans who haven’t seen their side in the finals since 2013.

They will recall only too clearly that last year their team plummeted from fifth at the halfway point to finish 11th, the slide costing coach Nathan Brown his job.

“I don’t want to go into last year,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t even want to go into last week, It’s irrelevant.”

Newcastle also lost Sione Mata’utia to a knee injury and Sunday’s defeat was compounded by the fact they were the only top-eight team to lose this week.

Penrith remain first after beating a dogged Gold Coast 22-14, and just one point separates them Melbourne and Parramatta.

But Newcastle’s loss has allowed that trio open a gap on the rest of the competition.

The Panthers are now five points clear of fourth-place Sydney Roosters and fifth-placed Canberra, even after their wins over the Warriors and South Sydney respectively.

Cronulla are in a season-high seventh after their controversial win over St George Illawarra, while Manly are back in the top eight after defeating North Queensland.