The midfielder, who joined from South Shields earlier this summer, suffered a knee injury during our pre-season friendly against FC Halifax Town on Tuesday.
Following scans this week, it has been confirmed that he has ruptured his ACL.
“It’s the worst possible news,” commented Watson.
“He’s pretty much done everything that you can do inside the knee, which is heartbreaking for him. It was a dream move, and I thought he showed really quickly that he was more than capable at the level.
“I spoke to him yesterday and told him that he can be heartbroken today and maybe tomorrow but come Monday you’ll have to look to get your head around it.
“He can’t let this moment define him. He’s got to come back and push on to go and have an amazing Rochdale career that I know he’s going to be.
“We’re really lucky with the medical staff here. Ryan [Wilkinson – ] has been amazing with him and Jenks is in really good hands.”
Dale were also without Sam Beckwith, Laurence Maguire and Kaiden Wilson due to injury in Saturday’s penalty shootout win.
“All the injuries seem to have come at once. Becks is going to be out for several weeks now as well. We’re patching everyone together. We’re hopeful we’ve got a few to come back in soon, albeit nothing imminent.
“The way the boys haven’t let it phase them and have been present in everything they do, it shows their character, which is really pleasing for me.”
Watch Watson’s full post-match interview following our Carabao Cup progression below.
