Michael O’Neill reveals 'serious' Blackburn Rovers issue he’s already having to deal with | OneFootball

The New Blackburn Rovers boss has issued an update on Lewis Miller with the player suffering a long-term injury.

Michael O'Neill has revealed that a key Blackburn Rovers star may have suffered a long-term injury during his side's excellent 3-1 away victory over play-off chasing QPR on Saturday afternoon.

The Lancashire outfit headed into the game with a new head coach in the dugout, and the Northern Irishman made quite the impact in his first match, as his team took all three points at Loftus Road. It is Rovers' second win in their last 11 league games, and has taken them back out of the bottom three.

However, it did come at a cost as Lewis Miller was brought off just nine minutes after O'Neill brought the right-back onto the pitch. He had replaced Oladapo Afolayan at half-time, but in the 54th minute he was replaced by Harry Pickering.

Now, Blackburn face an anxious wait for the results of a scan and supporters will be hoping that one of their aces' seasons has not come to an early end.

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill issues update on Lewis Miller following injury v QPR

Miller has played in all but three league games for Rovers so far in 2025/26, and since signing from Scottish side Hibernian in the summer, he has been a key player for Valerien Ismael previously, and looked as though he was going to be the same for O'Neill.

However, Blackburn's new head coach has explained his fears surrounding the full-back's short-term future, with it looking likely that he will spend some time on the sidelines with an Achilles injury. He said (via: rovers.co.uk): "It does look like a serious injury and he’s in a boot, so we can only wish that it’s not as serious as it looks.

"He’s in a lot of pain and had to be stretchered off despite nobody being near him. It looks like an Achilles situation, and we hope that there’s good news, and it’s not as severe as maybe we fear.

"Lewis has a big World Cup ahead of him and with everything going into the melting pot, it makes the injury very difficult if it’s severe. We can only hope that he gets good news in the coming period but it’s too early to say at the moment."

Lewis Miller will be a big miss for Blackburn Rovers

If Miller's injury is serious, then his season could be over already, and, in fact, he may not feature at all until the very end of 2026. Therefore, it is vital that Blackburn find out the extent of the blow as soon as possible so that they can plan accordingly.

With Australia preparing for this year's World Cup, this injury could not have come at a worse time for the 25-year-old, and his dream of playing in the tournament may have come to an end before the March internationals were even thought about.

However, Blackburn will also be extremely disappointed. Miller has been a key player for the club this season, and with O'Neill's side locked in a relegation battle, losing someone as crucial as the right-back will only be a negative.

This is an incredibly important moment for Afolayan and he will need to step up in the coming weeks to ensure that his teammate's loss is not felt too heavily.