Mackin out for months
JACK Mackin could only laugh at the cruel twist of injury fate he inflicted on himself a few weeks ago with a seemingly harmless throwaway line.
Discussing injury history with his Runaway Bay teammates, Mackin declared: “My knees have always been sweet – I’m lucky”.
Not 10 minutes into the second half of Sunday’s 32-22 win over Mudgeeraba, Mackin looked to run through a hole in the Redbacks defence but was cut down from the side in a tackle.
“Someone dived at my legs and it was the pressure inward into my knee,” he said.
The Seagulls’ star number one left the field with fears of an anterior cruciate ligament injury – scans taken on Monday revealed a grade three complete tear of the medial cruciate ligament.
It was the best news out of a bad situation for Mackin, who would have missed the remainder of the season with an ACL but instead will be in line to return towards the end of the year.
“They said I’ll have to spend six weeks in a knee brace and then start rehab from there, so (all going well) probably 8-10 weeks away,” he said.
“The physio said she’s never seen someone do their MCL all the way through like mine and not damage any of the other ligaments, so I was pretty lucky.”
Regardless it is a cruel blow for the 25-year-old, who has long been regarded as the premiere number one in the Rugby League Gold Coast competition.
The knee injury comes after a hamstring strain hampered his chances at an Intrust Super Cup berth with Tweed earlier this year.
“It is disappointing, for sure. I’ve been keen to play all year,” Mackin said. “But hopefully I can come back at the business end (of the season).”
Until then, Mackin plans to make the most of his lay-off by ticking a longtime personal goal.
“It will let me studying for my he said.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was little and I decided this was the year.”
Coach Nick Gleeson’s replacement options also took a hit, with young gun Tyler Han called into the Tweed U20s squad this weekend.
Winger Queille Murray is also an option to play in the one, though with opposite winger Joseva Latenacolo set to miss this weekend and the club’s outside back stocks limited, it is unlikely.
Tevin Arona looms as the obvious option – he came off the bench against Mudgeeraba in his club debut and replaced Mackin when he went down with the knee injury.
“He usually plays at half but he’s a really good ballplayer,” Mackin said. “I don’t know what Nick is going to do … Tevin is good. He’s quality. He’ll get it sorted out.” do some pilot’s licence,”