Roosters coach Trent Robinson has revealed star winger Mark Nawaqanitawase is expected to have surgery on a syndesmosis injury that is set to rule him out of the State of Origin series opener later this month.
Nawaqanitawase was one of several stars who failed to finish Saturday night’s epic encounter at Allianz Stadium, with Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds already ruled out of their next match after suffering a head knock.
Nawaqanitawase spoke on Monday about his dreams of representing the Blues, but the former Wallaby who will return to rugby next year may not get the chance after he left the field in the first half after his foot was trapped under teammate Robert Toia.
Blues coach Laurie Daley said that the Roosters star was in the mix along with Campbell Graham and Josh Addo-Carr to partner Brian To’o on the wing, but surgery would mean he’s out for 6-8 weeks which would rule him out of the May 27 clash.
“It’s (his) syndesmosis, he looks like he’ll have an op,” Robinson said after the 38-24 victory.
The try-scoring machine isn’t the only concern with Queensland enforcer Lindsay Collins ruled out of next Friday’s trip to Gosford after he failed his head injury assessment in the first half.
Blues veteran Angus Crichton also needs scans on a knee injury that forced him off midway through the second half.
“Gus was a medial. We’re having a look at that to see where he’s at so he’s getting scans now,” his coach said.
“But I probably could have left him out there, but he needed work multiple times, so that’s medial.
“And then obviously Lindsay, he was pretty good there (in the sheds), he was pretty clear on what happened and everything, but not good enough to go back on.”
As for the Broncos, Tom Duffy will come in for Reynolds when they take on Manly next week after the veteran halfback’s head slammed into the turn as he tried to make a tackle.
“He came in a couple of weeks ago and showed what he’s capable of. I thought he went out there today and steered the team around,” Broncos coach Michael Maguire said.
Maguire said injured stars like Payne Haas and Ben Hunt wouldn’t be back next week, with wingers Josiah Karapani (ankle) and Deine Mariner (cork) also in serious doubt.
Mariner had to leave the field in the first half but returned later in the game when Karapani got his foot trapped in a tackle.
“Deine probably shouldn’t have gone back out, but that’s what they’re doing for each other,” Maguire said, proud of how his team fought back from 30-0 down to get within six points.
“I could talk about many other players, but that’s what the competition is demanding of you at the moment. Deine, straight away he jumped up and out he went. So they’re competing really hard for each other. We just needed to be smarter.”
The Broncos are also sweating on the match review committee charges to come out after strike centre Kotoni Staggs was sent to the sin bin for an elbow to the back of Hugo Savala’s head following a tackle late in the game.
The sin bin killed off the comeback with the Roosters scoring eight points in the final eight minutes with the Blues hopeful off the field, although lock forward Patrick Carrigan blamed himself for an error moments earlier.
“To be honest, that was my fault,” he said.
“I made an error down in the good ball set, just a loose carry and I turned over the ball and put us on the back foot and released pressure of the game.
“I know ‘Tones’ (Staggs) plays aggressively but I know he wouldn’t have meant to do any harm. To be honest, I didn’t even see it until after the game, so we play a hard fast game, he made a mistake and I’m sure he’ll own that.
“I love when he’s playing aggressive and I love running out with him.”
Read related topics:Sydney