Kurt Gidley was facing season on sideline if his foot injury had not been detected at NSW State of Origin camp KURT Gidley has described his injured foot as a "ticking time bomb" just waiting to go off and says he could have faced the rest of the season on the sideline had it not been for his selection in the NSW Origin side. Still struggling to come to terms with the thought of not being a part of the Blues' campaign for a second straight year due to injury, the Newcastle Knights captain will be out of action for up to six weeks with a partially torn lisfranc ligament, the main supporting ligament of the foot. But despite the pain, he concedes there is an upside to the injury. He could so easily have torn the ligament off the bone and be facing a six- or nine-month recovery. Gidley revealed yesterday he initially injured his foot against the Bulldogs almost a fortnight ago. Scans at the time cleared him of any real damage and he backed up last Sunday against the Warriors, needing a painkiller to get through the game. But he joined the Blues in camp last Monday fully expecting to be cleared to play. It was only after the NSW medical staff suggested he should have another precautionary scan that the damage was revealed. "To be honest, if I wasn't sent for more scans on Monday in Origin camp, I would have played in Origin," Gidley said. It's probably like a bit of a ticking time bomb. It could have gone off in that game or it could have been all right. If the Origin game wasn't coming up, I would have been playing a club game this week. We probably wouldn't have done any more scans. That's the scary thing, I suppose. It's probably lucky I got on to it when I did. Asked had he dodged a bullet in some respects, Gidley said: "I guess so. It wouldn't have been good staring down the barrel of surgery and six or nine months of recovery. I've got to look at it as the glass half full. I've got to it before it needs surgery and before it's torn completely so that's the only way to look at it.