JOHNSON OUT FOR SEASON?
KR STAR SUFFERS NEW INJURY BLOW IN SAINTS’ LOSS
TONY Smith has admitted he may have lost Luis Johnson for the remainder of 2022 after the secondrower left the field early in the 26-18 defeat to St Helens.
Smith, who saw his Rovers side push the Grand Final winners close at the Totally Wicked Stadium, was devastated by the news after an encouraging performance on the road against the league leaders.
Johnson, who missed the first three months of the season, looks to have ruptured his pectoral, which could rule him out until 2023.
“Luis is bad news,” said Smith. “George King is fine and will be ready for Huddersfield, but Luis is not so good.
“We think he’s ruptured his pectoral and will get it scanned next week, but it’s not looking good for him.
“I’m gutted for him as he’s not long back. We will wait and see, but it’s very cruel on him. We are fine apart from that.”
Smith also revealed his players were disappointed not to come away with the result against the champions and admitted his side blew some chances.
“We were more controlled last week, but the effort was very pleasing,” Smith added.
“We came to challenge them, and we did in some respects. Of course, we should have been more competitive and taken our chances, but we didn’t.
“Our final kicking plays were sloppy, and we gifted them some chances due to errors. A bit cheap from us let them off the hook. But, we did some good things and are pleased with how we went.
“You have to have a good execution against the Saints, and we didn’t have that at stages.”
The Rovers boss did point out one part of the Robins’ game that is frustrating him in recent weeks and is an aspect of their defence that needs cleaning up.
“We are not downhearted,” he continued.
“We have taken plenty of spirits away from today and are frustrated we didn’t get the two points. They had double penalties than us, which didn’t help as well. Swap that round, and it could have been closer.”