Chooks counting cost of hellish summer
IT’S the elephant in the room that no one in rugby league wants to talk about publicly because of the powerful influences at the Sydney Roosters.
But the reality is the club that will go into this season as the NRL second favourites are reeling after a hellish summer.
It relates to potentially serious and ongoing injuries and personal issues affecting stars including Luke Keary, Joey Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Connor Watson and Angus Crichton, and recruitment boss Daniel Anderson.
Veteran five-eighth Keary is recovering from another head knock, superstar centre Manu is out with a facial fracture, Waerea-Hargreaves has a lower back/hamstring problem and utility Watson has a patella tendon injury.
None of them were named to take on Manly in Friday night’s final trial in Gosford.
Test forward Crichton was also excluded as he recovers from a leave of absence to deal with “personal issues”.
Recruitment chief Anderson, meanwhile, has been out of action since a body surfing accident in late December. His recovery is a family matter and no public comment is expected until next month, but his ongoing absence will have an impact, given his influence on so many at the club.
Crichton’s situation is also personal and his recovery is ongoing, given he missed the recent team camp in New Zealand.
Waerea-Hargreaves and Crichton both trained with the main group this week, and Crichton was reportedly in good spirits. But it remains a mystery if he will be fit for round 1 – as is the case with Waerea-Hargreaves, Keary and Manu.
In Manu’s case, the club has confirmed he suffered a “minor facial fracture” when the team was in Queenstown, and the talk is he should be back sooner rather than later.
Keary’s head knock was reportedly not a bad one but, given the 31-year-old’s history of concussions, every time he cops a knock it causes concern.
It has been speculated previously that Keary would consider his future the next time he suffers a serious head knock. And even though this was minor, it would cause concern among those close to him.