Is Don, is no good for start of season
GOLD Coast could start the 2018 NRL season without their fan favourite and reigning player of the year after surgery complications.
Try-scoring machine Anthony Don is already racing the clock for Round 1 on March 11 against Canberra.
Don was a rare shining light in a dim year for the Titans, earning a NSW Country callup and even being mentioned as a State of Origin bolter.
His efforts came despite a right shoulder battle that lingered from the moment he dislocated it in Round 2 – coincidentally on March 11 this year. Medical staff had hoped the 30-year-old winger could make a full recovery without going under the knife but eventually booked him in for a later-than-usual reconstruction in October.
Making matters worse, Don’s progress was slowed by an infection resulting from surgery complications. It forced him to have a second operation three weeks later.
“I had full range in my shoulder and then all of a sudden I didn’t have much range and it was quite sore so I went back and saw the surgeon – it was on the first day of training actually,” he told the Bulletin.
“He said straight away you have got to get more surgery tomorrow. It was a bit of a tough time but got through that and spent a few nights in hospital.”
A course of “heavy antibiotics” delayed any attempts to begin fitness training and Don is unsure if he’ll recover in time to take on the Raiders in the season-opener.
“If everything went perfectly I might be able to get to Round 1 but realistically I’ll probably miss the first couple,” he said.
The procedure, which involved moving part of the bone within the shoulder, will give him more confidence in a stronger body as well as preventing the possibility of another dislocation there in future.
With him on the comeback trail and 2018 being a “clean slate”, Don doesn’t expect to be a walk-up selection on his favoured right wing when fit.
“I am missing out on a lot of the training which is to my disadvantage, so I have got a lot of catching up to do,” he said.
The Titans are currently in the Toowoomba area for a pre Christmas camp.
Meanwhile, Canterbury centre Brenko Lee is set to head north to the Gold Coast after being granted a release by the Bulldogs.