NRL: Pet dog sidelines Eels hooker

Matt Keating. Photo / Getty Images

The Bulldogs have enlisted one of their own to sideline Parramatta Eels hooker Matthew Keating for more than six weeks - after he suffered a bite to the finger.

However Keating can't blame the rival Sydney club for the layoff with the perpetrator being his own pet dog.

The 24-year-old received a compound fracture of the index finger on his right hand while at the bottom of a ruck with his Aussie bulldog Bronx on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph reports.

"We were mucking around and wrestling when I fell over and took his weight with me and got my finger caught in his mouth," Keating told the newspaper.

"My partner Sarah took me to my local hospital and I realised I'd done some decent damage, so I consulted the club doctor Steve McNamara and head trainer Craig Catterick.

"I stayed in hospital overnight and had surgery and the good news is there'll be no lasting problems.

"It's just one of those things that can happen - we were just mucking around."

Keating, who has played 75 games for the Eels, is expected to be sidelined for up to six weeks.

McNamara told the Daily Telegraph that there was no apparent damage to any of the nerves or tendons in Keating's finger.

"It's a nasty injury but he will make a full recovery," McNamara said.

"He is a very lucky boy."

Coincidently the injury means Keating will miss the Eels' clash with the Bulldogs on April 15.

- HERALD ONLINE