Hull KR coach Tony Smith has confirmed the spinal injury Mose Masoe suffered in a pre-season friendly is "career-ending".

Samoa international Masoe, who previously played for Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers and St Helens, was seriously hurt when he made a tackle in the opening minutes of his side's match against Wakefield Trinity last weekend.

In a news conference on Thursday, Rovers coach Smith provided an update on the condition of the 30-year-old, who underwent emergency surgery soon after sustaining his injury.

"If you're talking about career-wise, this is a career-ending injury," said Smith. "If Mose is able to walk, that'll be a success. All that's still unknown.

"We've got to be careful what we set our sights on as an outcome. Mose's got two lovely daughters here in this country and a young son in Australia that are suffering at the the moment and are worried about their dad.

"He's got an unborn child on the way. There's different ways to measure success and, if you asked his consultant, his consultant wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what he will get back to. I know for a fact he's just looking forward to hugging his children again."

Smith hailed the extraordinary positivity shown by Masoe, who left intensive care on Thursday to move to a specialist spinal injuries unit.

"I'm really proud to know him and to know the manner in which he's conducted himself under the most extreme pressure," added Smith. "He's a big, strong man that was very, very happy prior to the injury and he's showing those same traits now. He's putting everybody else at ease.

"We're all feeling for him at the moment and last night when I went and visited, a number of players had been already, and one of his main objectives is to make them feel better. He's smiling and he's so positive and it's been very inspirational to all of us.

"He's making some really good progress, which he's happy about. It's going to be a long, slow process for him but he's made some really good inroads. It looked very, very, very bleak on the first day or so until he had his operation. He's made some good improvements and every little bit of improvement is a huge improvement really, from where it was first expected with him."

Masoe and Weller Hauraki were named as Hull KR's co-captains for 2020 on Thursday, with Smith stating: "I do want everyone to understand that it was agreed last week ... and it hasn't been a reaction to recent occurrences. We're really proud that he [Masoe] is going to stay involved and have a big impact on our team throughout the season."