{"id":645930,"date":"2026-05-03T00:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645930\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T00:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:35:13","slug":"mark-nawaqanitawase-out-for-nsw-blues-angus-crichton-in-doubt-after-roosters-defeat-broncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645930\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Nawaqanitawase out for NSW Blues, Angus Crichton in doubt after Roosters defeat Broncos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Christian Nicolussi\" data-testid=\"author-avatar-image\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/635402f1698dc5687fb8f98be5c093fe76cbc56f.png\"  width=\"64\" class=\"sc-9a01536c-0 libeSR\"\/>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>Mark Nawaqanitawase is expected to undergo ankle surgery, and Angus Crichton is also at risk of missing the State of Origin series opener on May 27 with a knee injury.<\/p>\n<p>The Sydney Roosters held on to <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/nrl-live-updates-red-hot-roosters-take-on-broncos-in-saturday-blockbuster-20260501-p5zszn.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">defeat premiers Brisbane 38-24<\/a> on Saturday night, but the triumph came at a cost for the club \u2013 and NSW coach Laurie Daley.<\/p>\n<p>The first State of Origin teams will be named in a fortnight, and Nawaqanitawase and Crichton are now expected to join the bulging casualty ward.<\/p>\n<p>Rugby-bound <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/bigger-better-faster-for-stint-in-nrl-nawaqanitawase-puts-hand-up-for-origin-role-20260427-p5zr9i.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Nawaqanitawase was pushing for an Origin berth<\/a> after representing Australia during last year\u2019s Ashes tour.<\/p>\n<p>But Roosters coach Trent Robinson confirmed the worst after the game, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s syndesmosis, he looks like he\u2019ll have an op.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Canterbury\u2019s Jacob Kiraz (knee) is still a few weeks away, while Manly\u2019s Tom Trbojevic, who has played on the wing at Origin level, is also ruled out for at least another six weeks.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mark Nawaqanitawase suffered a serious ankle injury on Saturday night.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/31f335232785a030d3b755773fcf76165136fd46.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>Mark Nawaqanitawase suffered a serious ankle injury on Saturday night.Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Penrith\u2019s Brian To\u2019o will be on one wing, with South Sydney\u2019s Campbell Graham and Parramatta\u2019s Josh Addo-Carr right in the frame for the other spot. Manly\u2019s Tolu Koula has speed, Wests Tigers\u2019 Sunia Turuva has big-game experience, and To\u2019o\u2019s teammate Tom Jenkins is the competition\u2019s leading try-scorer, with all three entitled to be in the Origin conversation. Penrith centre Casey McLean has also played on the wing for New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>A left-field option would be South\u2019s Alex Johnston, especially given his form and left-side combination with Latrell Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>Crichton has been a mainstay for the Blues in the forwards, and Robinson feared the 30-year-old, who will also head to rugby with Nawaqanitawase at the end of the season, had injured his medial collateral ligament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re having a look at that to see where he\u2019s at, so he\u2019s getting scans now,\u201d Robinson said of Crichton.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The carnage is likely to continue with centre option Kotoni Staggs facing suspension for elbowing Hugo Savala in the back of the head, which earned him 10 minutes in the bin on Saturday night, and arguably ended any hopes of Brisbane completing what would have been an incredible fightback win.<\/p>\n<p>More to come &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-645930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645930","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=645930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}