ORANGE Emus No.8-come-centre Rob Thorburn goes under the knife on Thursday, potentially ending his Blowes Clothing Cup season, after suffering a brutal facial fracture in Saturday’s thrashing of Bathurst Bulldogs.

Thorburn clashed heads with teammate Andrew Cosgrove in a tackle during Saturday’s win, which led to fractures to his forehead and eye socket.

“I was fairly confident it was serious when it happened, as soon as I felt it I thought it was fractured,” Thorburn, a physiotherapy student, said.

In a gruesome operation, surgeons will make an incision from ear to ear before peeling back Thorburn’s forehead to insert small titanium plates around the damaged bones.

Thorburn did see some humour in the grisly procedure, but said he refuses to be compared to Castor Troy, Nic Cage’s character from 1997 blockbuster movie Face/Off.

“I think I’d look more like John Travolta from that movie. Actually, I’ll probably still just look like [Gold Coast Titans lock] Greg Bird,” he laughed.

“It’s pretty full on. I’m not so much nervous about the surgery, more about the results post-surgery in terms of nerve or facial damage, and the recovery from it.”

Thorburn has been ruled out for at least six weeks, opening the door for a potential finals comeback, but he said playing again this season isn’t on his radar at the moment.

“I’ve had a lot of injuries from playing rugby, and I’ve been pretty lucky with this one to have not done something more serious, which is likely if it happens again,” Thorburn said.

“Because of that I haven’t decided whether I’ll play after I heal up or not. It’s frustrating, not because of my form but because of the way we’re starting to play as a side.

“We were starting to get back to where we need to be. I’m confident the boys can keep improving though.”

Thorburn has had bad luck with friendly fire injuries, slicing his ear open last season after clashing heads with second-rower Nick Hughes-Clapp, while Cosgrove, clearly boasting a head like a camelthorn tree, is no stranger to unintentionally injuring clubmates.

Last season Cosgrove clashed heads with then-Emus coach Andrew Logan, fracturing Logan’s cheekbone in several places.

“Cozzy’s head felt pretty hard at the time, definitely harder than mine anyway,” Thorburn said.