Reece Walsh is in hospital with a possible fractured cheekbone and the Broncos are also sweating on the fitness of Adam Reynolds, Ben Hunt and Ezra Mam after a costly 26-12 win over the Titans on Easter Saturday.
Walsh failed a head injury assessment after copping a blow to the head when he went low to tackle Kurtis Morrin in the 40th minute, so even if the megastar fullback doesn’t have a fractured cheekbone he will be unavailable to face North Queensland next Friday night due to the NRL‘s 11-day stand-down policy.
“Reece has gone to hospital to get a scan just below his eye, so we just have to wait and see on that,” coach Michael Maguire said in his post-game press conference.
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Reece Walsh after copping a blow to the head. NRL Imagery
Reynolds left the field with a strained groin in the 25th minute and didn’t return.
“I’ll get a scan tomorrow, see how it is and talk to the medical staff, but [I’m] not sure at the moment,” Reynolds said in the press conference.
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Hunt replaced Reynolds at halfback in the 25th minute and played out the game, but the veteran utility is dealing with a knee issue.
“Yeah, I’m all right,” Hunt told ABC Sport.
“The doctor checked it out at half-time. He thinks I kind of stretched my medial [ligament] a bit … I’ll get some tape on it.”
He sounded far less confident when quizzed in the Broncos sheds.
“I’ll go and catch up with them [the medics] now and see how we go,” Hunt told reporters.
Asked if he was worried about missing next week’s game, he said: “Honestly, I’ve got no idea. No idea. I haven’t done it before, so we’ll see how we go.”
He said having his knee strapped made the pain easier to bear.
“It’s painful, but you can get through it,” Hunt said.
Mam was seen limping at stages throughout the match, and while Maguire wasn’t able to pinpoint his exact injury, the coach said the five-eighth had “a few bangs and bumps”.
Mam played 80 minutes and was one of the Broncos’ best, making two line breaks, setting up two tries and scoring one himself.
“I’m just really proud of how they’ve been fighting through this period of time,” Maguire said of his Broncos, who’ve now won three games on the trot.
“They showed their resolve and what they’re capable of and they had to do that tonight. It was pretty busy on the sideline but to the credit of the players and just how they are as a group at the moment — [I’m] super proud of how they just want to work hard for each other.”
Maguire noted the depth of his roster.
“We’ve got a squad. We all talk about the squad,” he said.
“Tonight, Reyno [Reynolds] went off and Reecey [Walsh] went off and you’ve still got to perform, and that’s the expectation that the leaders have and we have as the group. We’ve got depth in the club. The clubs work really hard to make sure they have that depth, so we’ll just call upon that.”
When Walsh went off injured, Jesse Arthars moved from the left wing to fullback and Antonio Verhoeven replaced Arthars on the wing, making his NRL debut.
Maguire said he could either go with Arthars or Hayze Perham at fullback against North Queensland at Suncorp Stadium next Friday night.