Calf injury could sideline ringmaster Blake Green
The Warriors are sweating on the fitness of five-eighth Blake Green and centre Gerard Beale in the wake of yesterday’s scrappy NRL defeat to the Bulldogs in Sydney.
Green was forced from the field with a calf injury during the final quarter at ANZ Stadium, while Beale suffered a hamstring strain. Both players are in doubt for Friday’s pivotal home game against Penrith.
Star halfback Shaun Johnson also sent a scare through the camp when he went down after rolling his ankle in the second half. But he stayed on as the Warriors fought back to 26-26 before Canterbury five-eighth Lachlan Lewis’ field goal sealed their demise two minutes from fulltime.
The eighth-ranked Warriors desperately need Green’s organising skills and experience and will give the 31-year-old playmaker every chance to prove his fitness over the short five-day turnaround, with back-up half Mason Lino likely to remain on standby.
Beale has been a strong contributor on the right edge in recent weeks but Kiwi international Peta Hiku looms as his likely replacement should he fail to recover in time to face the fifth-placed Panthers.
“Initial reports are that it’s a cork but we’ll just have to see how [Green] pulls up,” said Warriors coach Stephen Kearney.
“We’ve got a short turnaround into a Friday night match, so in terms of what that looks like, we’ll have to see how he pulls up [today].
“We’ve got Bealey, who looks like he twinged a hammy, so he’s another. We’ve got a few guys with ice bags all over them in there, so we’ll have to see how they pull up.”
Kearney was unimpressed with another underwhelming performance from his side but denied he was worried about their precarious position on the ladder.
Getting his players up mentally and physically remains his priority as they need just one more win in the final fortnight of the regular season.
“There were a couple of shortcuts I saw [against the Bulldogs] which weren’t in our game over the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“I’m not really focused on [the finals], I’m focused on making sure we improve areas of our game that we didn’t do so well.
“I know if we get our best game of footy out there, then we give ourselves a chance against anyone. But we didn’t do that [yesterday].”