Melbourne Storm superstar trio all injured in State of Origin 1 - Sydney Morning Herald

Billy Slater is expected to be out for up to three weeks. Photo: Getty Images

Melbourne Storm expect to be without superstar trio Cam Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater for at least the next two weeks after all three suffered injuries during State of Origin I in Brisbane on Wednesday night.

Storm veteran Ryan Hoffman is the only man left standing from the four players the Storm sent to Origin, which New South Wales won 12-8.

Cronk, the Storm’s star halfback, is the worst affected. He fractured his right arm in the opening minutes and will miss eight to 12 weeks.

Of the four Storm players in Origin I, only Ryan Hoffman (second right) came through unscathed. Photo: Getty Images

Cronk looks near certain to miss both remaining games of the Origin series while Smith and Slater will be in serious doubt to be fit in time for game two in Sydney on June 18.

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Smith has a high sprain in his right ankle though will travel with the Storm to Townsville where they face North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night.

The Storm medical staff will give the ankle further treatment but they expect he will miss the Cowboys game and possibly another week.

Slater has a grade two sprain in his AC joint and even with treatment the Storm believe he will miss two to three weeks.

With the Storm’s backs already hit by injuries to Joel Romelo and Cody Walker while Ben Hampton is suspended for this week.

This leaves the side needing to do some major shuffling to replace their three stars.

Ben Roberts, who as originally named at five-eight to face the Cowboys, will likely move to half back with Tohu Harris potentially moving into Roberts’ place and Kurt Mann or Cam Munster moving to full back in place of Slater.

Mahe Fonua may also win a recall to move into the centres should Mann be moved.

The Storm won’t name their final side until an hour before their game on Saturday night.

State of Origin I was a ratings winner for the NRL with the game posting a record audience for an opening game of the series as 4.053 million viewers tuned in around Australia.

The NRL said the game was the highest rating TV show in Australia so far this calendar year.

In Victoria the game scored a record regional audience of 118,083, up 10 per cent from last year, while 426,000 viewers tuned in from Melbourne.