Surprise appearance softens blow of another serious injury for Junee

Diggins suffered a slipped disk in his neck during their loss to Temora on Saturday, an injury that could end his playing days.

"He's gone for the year I think," Junee captain-coach Daniel Foley said.

"Where he is at at the moment that might even pull him up."

Diggins has had a horror run with injuries this season, coming in and out of the Diesels line up.

However this is by far the most severe.

"He's actually had a shocking run of injuries this year," Foley said.

"He's sort of been in one game out the next all season.

"He's another experienced guy that we are going to miss for the rest of the year.

"It just makes our job all the more tougher again.

Junee will also be without centre Ratu Saurara to take on Young at Alfred Oval on Sunday after he picked up a shoulder injury in the loss to the Dragons.

However it's not all bad news for the Diesels with former Australian rugby sevens captain Stu Dunbar set to make his Group Nine debut.

Dunbar was one of the biggest signings over the off-season, and made a couple of pre-season appearances for the Diesels, including at the West Wyalong Knockout, before an employment opportunity limited his availability.

Due to commitments in Sydney, the Diesels weren't expecting him to line up at all this season.

However he will play at fullback to take on the Cherrypickers.

Foley is thrilled to have him on board.

"I reached out to him to see if he was available this weekend as we've picked up a couple other injuries on the weekend, surprise, surprise, and he was available this weekend," he said.

"His experience defensively is going to help us out massively whether he's at centre or fullback."

Adding to their extensive injury woes, Pete Adam and Connor McCauley are also unavailable this weekend.

Foley expects it will make for an even harder trip to Alfred Oval to tackle the ladder leaders.

"The depth will be tested again and reggies have a few out as well so it's going to be a big day at Young," he said.

It's been a tough season for Junee with their injury concerns not helping them.

They dropped to last on the ladder after a 32-14 loss to Temora however Foley thought it was one of their better performances.

"I was pretty happy actually," he said.

"We found ourselves behind again after the first 10 minutes but clawed our way back and were only down by two points at half-time, so I was pleased with that.

"We probably just ran out of legs and our boys in the middle had to play big minutes and probably just ran out of puff."