NATE’S BAD BODY BLOW
IT IS déjà vu all over again for the Taipans and injured centre Nate Jawai.
The Australian Boomers big man had surgery on his shoulder on Wednesday afternoon in Cairns and is now set to miss a fair chunk of the start of the next NBL campaign.
In a blow to the Taipans’ hopes next season, Jawai and his surgically repaired shoulder are facing a six to eight- month recovery period before he can return to the court.
While the NBL has not released its schedule for next season, the 2016-17 campaign began in the first week of October, with a similar start date expected for 2017-18.
If the big man is to need eight months to recover from the procedure, he could miss as much as the first two months of next season.
The rehabilitation period throws the Snakes’ pre-season into disarray with a replacement for champion Mark Worthington yet to be signed.
It is not clear when Jawai suffered the injury but he did leave the Round 18 home game against the Perth Wildcats after hurting his shoulder but returned and finished the game.
“It is OK, it is an old injury,” Jawai said after that game. “I just aggravated it. I have been lucky through the season I have not done it but it is OK now.”
Jawai missed the start of the 2016-17 season and the entire pre-season after he had surgery on his finger prior to the season.
He returned in Round 2 in Sydney and worked his way back into proper minutes slowly. Norths need a cricket miracle in the CFN grand final — but it’s happened before Tomorrow’s Cairns Post Taipans boss Mark Beecroft did not want to comment on Jawai’s shoulder yesterday but addressed the centre’s off-season earlier this week.
When Beecroft was asked if Jawai would be playing elsewhere during the winter, like teammates Cameron Gliddon and Mitch McCarron overseas, he offered this response:
“I think this year was a good year for him in terms of having an influence on the game but he still has a whole lot he wants to achieve as well,” Beecroft said.
“He knows he has a lot of community work to do so that will be his primary focus over the off-season.”
In 29 games back at the Far North club, Jawai averaged a touch over 10 points and just over four rebounds a game this season.