Copeland could be out for season

New Guildford signing Mike Copeland could miss the rest of the season after being stretchered off injured in Sunday night’s defeat to Glasgow.

Copeland, the former Rocks forward, only joined the Heat last month as coach Creon Raftopoulos shaked up his roster after a poor start to the season, which continued north of the border with a 99-94 loss.

The game was stopped for approximately 10 minutes in the first quarter as Copeland was treated on court before leaving the venue in an ambulance.

It is now reported that the forward has a suspected snapped patela tendon and will have surgery on Monday morning, which is likely to rule him out for the rest of the campaign.

The injury occurred after Copeland tumbled under a challenge from Deaundre Cranston as the Heat forward drove to the net, and he went down clutching his knee.

It is another blow to the Heat who have now lost 12 consecutive games at the start of this season, and they now dust themselves off for a trip to Mersey Tigers on Friday.