STAR hooker Paul Rowley could be out of action for over a year.

The Leigh Centurions ace is sweating on the outcome of a scan on Friday to discover the full extent of a serious knee injury.

At best Rowley will be sidelined for at least a month - at worst he won't play again until this time next year.

The news has rocked Hilton Park and put a dampener on Leigh's Arriva Trains Cup semi-final win at Whitehaven last weekend.

Both Leigh and Rowley are particularly upset that the injury occurred as the result of an alleged late challenge by 'Haven substitute Marc Jackson who has already been warned once by the Rugby League about his tackling technique.

Leigh have had discussions with the RFL's Director of Referees, Stuart Cummings, but have decided to leave any future action in the hands of Red Hall officials.

Rowley is currently in a knee brace ahead of the scan, the results of which are expected on Monday.

"We already know he has medial ligament damage," says coach Darren Abram. "But the knee is quite unstable and that could indicate cruciate damage which would mean a full knee reconstruction. The recovery time from those is 12 months.

"We are all absolutely gutted but we've just got to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

"Paul is very upset about it because he feels it's a result of foul play. In the worse case scenario not only will he miss the rest of this season, but also half of next as well.

"We are not saying the tackling technique of Marc Jackson is illegal but it was late and is dangerous. Paul had already passed the ball - in fact they had intercepted and scored off it - when he was hit late around the knee area.

"The same player was warned last year about the same thing. The career of John Hamilton, when he was at Rochdale, was ended by a broken leg and dislocated ankle in a similar incident. Jackson was spoken too by the RFL about his technique then, but doesn't seem to have learned from that."

It looks likely that Dave McConnell will take Rowley's hooking role in Sunday's crucial home league game against Batley but Abram will be unable to name his side until Saturday as he waits for fitness reports on several other front line players.

Centre Ben Cooper completes his month-long loan spell from Huddersfield after the Batley game but Leigh have negotiated a week-to-week extension after that.

Meanwhile utility back Dave Alstead has joined Rochdale on a month's loan to keep up his match fitness at a higher level than in Leigh's U21s.