Star injuries rock Cowboys
NORTH Queensland’s premiership hopes have taken a massive hit, with both Valentine Holmes and Scott Drinkwater set to be sidelined for several weeks through injury.
Coach Paul Green has been forced to make several changes to his squad for Sunday’s clash against Penrith, with two of his star players out injured from last week’s loss to the Roosters.
Holmes is set to miss a majority of the remaining season after undergoing a surgical procedure known as an arthroscopy to his left ankle. The results revealed the syndesmosis ligament was unstable and had to be repaired, with an expected rehabilitation period of eight to 10 weeks.
The club’s star playmaker, Drinkwater, is also headed for an extended stint on the sideline after suffering an MCL rupture to his knee in last week’s game.
The pair join club captain Michael Morgan (shoulder) and centre Tom Opacic (knee) in the Cowboys’ casualty ward.
“Everyone’s disappointed (to lose Holmes and Drinkwater
to injury),” Green said. “It galvanises us a bit more.
“It’s another challenge for us to overcome, but we just have to knuckle down and get on with it.”
Despite being in doubt ahead of last week’s game, Holmes eventually played on the wing before re-aggravating the niggling ankle injury during the match.
Green defended his decision to play Holmes during the game due to medical advice.
“It was a bit of a strange one because he presented reasonably pain-free,” he said.
“We felt at the time, and the medical staff felt, that it was best to give him the chance to rehab it and see how it went.
“Clearly, once he got into the game and caught in the wrong spot, he couldn’t do too much.
“We needed to get in and find out what was going on there and (surgery) was the best way to do it.
“In hindsight, it might have been better to go straight to the operation but ... it was worth at least giving him that chance.”
In good news for the club, versatile forward John Asiata could return from injury this weekend, pending on a review on Thursday for his knee.
Young gun Daejarn Asi has also been named to make his
NRL debut on Sunday in the centres, while Mitch Dunn was named in the No. 6 jersey.
The Cowboys will have a nine-day turnaround leading into Sunday’s game, which the club is taking advantage of.
“It came at a good time,” Green said.
“We’ve had a fairly rugged few weeks. We’ve had a bit of travel and some scorelines certainly didn’t go how we would have liked.
“It’s been a good chance to give everyone a bit of a break to regroup, reset and get back to work on (Wednesday).”