There are fears the career of former Queensland prop Ben Ross could be over after the Cronulla forward was rushed into emergency back surgery on Monday night.

Ross was carried from the field wearing a neck brace after being crunched beneath a gang tackle in the Sharks' 18-10 NRL win over Penrith last Saturday night.

X-rays initially cleared him of a fracture, but MRI scans taken on Monday revealed he had ruptured a disc in his back which was impeding on his spinal chord.

Ross was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst late on Monday for the surgery and there are genuine concerns he will not play rugby league again.

Sharks captain Paul Gallen said the players were shocked by the seriousness of their teammate's injury.

"Everybody is shaken by the incident," Gallen said at training on Tuesday morning.

"He's probably disappointed at the moment, but he should be happy that he will be able to walk around and be fine for the rest of his life.

"He's just been married and hopefully he'll be able to continue a good life and rugby league is going to take a back seat to the rest of his life, so fingers crossed he'll be right for that."

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