{"id":532930,"date":"2026-03-11T09:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/532930\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T09:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:01:12","slug":"waratahs-launch-probe-with-1-6-million-centre-to-miss-half-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/532930\/","title":{"rendered":"Waratahs launch probe with $1.6 million centre to miss half the season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cS and C [strength and conditioning] and medical staff really take injuries like that personally, because they put so much time and care into the players. When an injury like that happens, it\u2019s probably more upsetting for them than it is for Joseph, to a certain extent.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Physio] Ed Hollis and [head of athletic performance] Tom Carter have done a tremendous job in terms of soft tissue injuries. At the moment we\u2019ve got three players on the injury list. One just happens to be the highest profile player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always go back and look through training loads to make sure we didn\u2019t expose him. One thing that we\u2019re big on is [training] individualisation, and making sure what Joseph needs is very different to what the next player needs and the next player, so that we avoid injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Triston<\/p>\n

Triston Reilly on the charge for NSW.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

McKellar gave the Waratahs the weekend off after being thrashed 59-19 \u2013 \u201ctwo long days to be honest\u201d \u2013 and said the team had responded well since returning to training.<\/p>\n

McKellar has made eight changes to the starting side to meet the Reds at Suncorp Stadium, with Reilly shifting from the wing to replace Suaalii and impressive rookie Sid Harvey<\/a> given his starting debut in the No.11. Debreczeni replaces Lawson Creighton at five-eighth and Jimmy Hendren returns at No.15 in place of Kellaway, who only came in for his first game last week. Now seemingly out of favour and off contract later this year, Kellaway\u2019s future looks clouded.<\/p>\n

Flanker Clem Halaholo and lock Angus Blyth were both promoted to the starting forward pack.<\/p>\n

McKellar said Reilly had trained at No.13 over summer and played the spot for the Junior Wallabies. The 27-year-old, who made his debut for NSW in 2020, also spent two years at Wests Tigers<\/a> and played four NRL games at centre in 2023, including a game against Suaalii and the Roosters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very, very good defender for us and understands how we want to defend. We have full confidence in Tristan,\u201d McKellar said. \u201cHe\u2019s not a player that I\u2019ll be worried about on Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bench performance of Harvey impressed McKellar so much he gave the Aussie sevens player a start over Kellaway and Test winger Harry Potter, who returns from injury on the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just got this air of class about him, Sid, both as a footballer and as a human being. He\u2019s got time, very composed, doesn\u2019t get rattled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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McKellar defended the Waratahs\u2019 defence \u2013 and defence coach Locky McCaffrey \u2013 by saying the 59 points conceded against the Canes was mostly a result of having to defend too much, after turning the ball over repeatedly and aimlessly kicking away possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week we turned over the ball 21 times and we kicked the ball eight times, which put us under immediate pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing that, when you\u2019re inaccurate and inefficient, it puts your defence under stress. We won\u2019t be throwing the baby out of the bathwater, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cS and C [strength and conditioning] and medical staff really take injuries like that personally, because they put…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-532930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}