Melbourne's slender hopes of making the NRL finals have been dealt a major blow with star winger Xavier Coates ruled out for the season after snapping his Achilles.
Coates was on the comeback trail after injuring his Achilles in the pre-season, requiring surgery that put him out for three months.
With State of Origin off the table, the Storm set a target of round 10 for his return but that was pushed back with the Queensland representative flyer's recovery slower than expected.
Coates had resumed running and looking to integrate with the main squad in the next week when the 25-year-old suffered the crushing injury on Friday at training.
"I was running and it just popped," a shattered Coates told AAP.
