Cowboys sweat on Ponga and Asiata scans
CO W B O Y S se n s a t i o n Kalyn Ponga may have played his last game for the club as he awaits scan results on the shoulder injury he suffered in Saturday’s 26- 16 home loss to Cronulla.
Ponga copped a knock to his left shoulder attempting to stop a try by Jayden Brailey in the fifth minute and despite his arm hanging lifelessly by his side, he remained on the field until the 46th minute.
Just before he was taken from the field, the 19- year- old didn’t have enough strength in his arm to throw a pass from dummy half to a teammate, and missed all three of his tackle attempts.
The Cowboys will have their fingers crossed his scans yesterday don’t reveal any structural damage as their injury list hits epidemic proportions.
John Asiata also suffered a suspected hyperextended elbow against the Sharks.
Teammate Jason Taumalolo was optimistic.
“I think they strapped him up and he was ready to come back out but they didn’t want to risk putting him on the sideline longer than he should be,” Taumalolo said.
The potential loss of Asiata would be the last thing the Cowboys need before Friday’s must- win clash with Wests Tigers at Campbelltown.
Their injury crisis ensures they are particularly short on bodies up front with props Matt Scott, Ben Spina and Patrick Kaufusi all out for the year, while Shaun Fensom missed the Sharks game with a knee injury.
Experienced stars Gavin Cooper ( calf), Antonio Winterstein ( hamstring) and Lachlan Coote ( ankle) are all rated legitimate chances to return against the Tigers.
The Cowboys have already used 32 players, including seven debutants after Erani Tuala and Shane Wright were blooded against Cronulla.
The most debutants the club has fielded in a single season since the NRL era began in 1998 was in 1999 with 11, followed by eight in 2002.
“He ( Asiata) looked pretty uncomfortable there, he might join the rest of the crew that are on the sidelines,” Cowboys stand- in skipper Michael Morgan said after the game.
“We’ve still got a few guys there. ( Prop) Sam Hoare didn’t play tonight, there’s no real experienced guys ( to come in) but they’re getting an opportunity sooner than they might have.
“I know they ( Cooper, Winterstein and Asiata) have been running, just straight line stuff which is much different to playing an actual game.”
The Cowboys finished the Sharks clash with 15 men for the third straight week.
“It makes life tough, particularly when you’re losing guys in your backs. It throws everything out,” Cowboys coach Paul Green said.
“It’s making it tough to get any continuity as a team. You practise all week a certain way and all of a sudden it’s thrown out the window.
“They ( Cooper, Winterstein, Coote) are all a good chance of playing next week, so hopefully we’ll have a good week’s prep and see what happens.
“The Tigers are playing some pretty good footy – it’s no easy feat down there.”