The news everyone feared, but expected, was confirmed by Tony Mowbray after the draw with Birmingham City, with Bradley Dack facing up to a year on the sidelines with the knee injury sustained in Monday’s draw with Wigan Athletic.

So how do you go about replacing a player who has scored 46 times in the last two-and-a-half seasons? The simple truth is, you can’t.

That's because Dack is several players in one. He possesses the goalscoring instincts of a centre forward, the timing of his runs is second to none.

Then there’s the creative flair, the showreel skills, the weight of pass that few in the side can match.

Add in to that his will to win, as well as being the heartbeat of the dressing room, and you go some way to getting close to the impact of how big a miss he will be.

It’s a desperate blow for Rovers, deprived of a player coming in to the prime of his career.

It’s an even bigger blow for Dack who has been open and honest enough about his desire to play in the Premier League, but now has to come to terms with dealing with the mental strain of seeing 12 months of his career simply vanish.

Rovers were always going to have to plan for life without Dack, he wouldn’t be around forever. But they will have wanted to have done it on their terms, rather than to lose him in such a cruel way.

Yes, Rovers do have players who can play in the No.10 role that Dack has made his own, but so unique is the 25-year-old, that it can’t be solved by a like-for-like replacement, whether that be in the squad, or in the transfer market.

The likes of Holtby, Rothwell, Brereton, Buckley will all be hoping for a go in that position, but even on the fleeting occasion that Dack hasn’t played in recent seasons, Mowbray has rarely stuck with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, instead, as he did against Birmingham, going 4-4-2.

This could well be a possibility moving forward. Adam Armstrong, who may well be the man most likely to take up some of the goalscoring strain having moved to six for the season with his penalty against Birmingham, would likely relish a run in the side in a centre forward role.

Sam Gallagher too, and Ben Brereton as well, three players who have fulfilled a ‘wide striker’ role in recent times given the previous preference for just one up front.

But all three will need to show more than they have so far to suggest they can be a double-digit goalscorer.

Then there is Danny Graham. Losing Dack will undoubtedly have an impact on Graham’s role in the team moving forward. They link up so well for each other, always on the same wavelength, and without Dack, Mowbray may see the limitations in going with Graham that have seen him sidelined at times this season.

That will all come out in time, but for now, the focus has to be on throwing support behind talisman Dack in his long road to recovery. 

His absence will shine a light however, on £6m man Brereton, a player who Mowbray has hinted at in the past could take on Dack’s mantle in the long-term.

But he was unused once again against Birmingham, as he was against Wigan, with Mowbray preferring the experience of Graham to partner Gallagher in the closing stages of both matches as Rovers went in search of a winner.

The chances will come, possibly even at Huddersfield or former club Forest, before the FA Cup tie with Birmingham City on January 4.

Extra scrutiny will always be attached to the 20-year-old because of his price-tag, though it’s clear the manager doesn’t see that as any more reason more of a green light to play him.

He is still learning and developing, but that may need to be accelerated should Rovers need to look within, rather than outside, for creativity and goals.

Bradley, you'll be missed.