Manly coach Anthony Seibold was unrepentant about bringing Haumole Olakau’atu back early from a shoulder injury even though the star forward suffered another dislocation and is out for the season.
Heading into their crucial clash with Canterbury on Sunday and the team clinging to a spot in the top eight, Seibold said the Manly medical staff told him and Olakau’atu that there was a 90% risk that he could dislocate his shoulder again after suffering the injury in Round 15.
The took the calculated gamble but the second-rower was in agony early in the second half and played was stopped for several minutes after a tackle on Viliame Kikau caused damage to the same shoulder.
“It’s disappointing to see that. That’ll be him done for the season, I would’ve thought,” Seibold said.
“There’s a risk when you hurt your shoulder, I think there’s around about a 90 per cent risk you’ll do it again.
“He had six weeks of reconditioning there and trained fully for the last two weeks.
“Obviously with a player of his quality and standing in our team, we wanted to pursue that risk. We didn’t want to worry about next year.
“It was always a calculated risk the medical staff said and obviously with a player of his quality and standing in our team, we wanted to pursue that risk.”
Manly’s chances of qualifying for the finals copped a huge dent on Sunday with the 42-4 flogging their worst ever loss to the Bulldogs.
Tough clashes against the Sydney Roosters, Canberra and the Dolphins in the coming month will likely decide ninth-placed Manly’s finals fate.
Manly can take comfort from having won all three games during Olakau’atu’s first injury lay-off, but that resilience deserted them as Canterbury ran in five unanswered tries after the break.
Haumole Olakau’atu. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
“We understand that each game is really important and valuable for us,” said Sea Eagles captain Cherry-Evans.
“(But) if we’re looking at the ladder and trying to calculate, ‘If we win this, and if we lose that’, we’re going to lose focus on what’s really important for us right now.”
Cherry-Evans felt the Sea Eagles needed only to pay attention to next week and learning their lessons from Sunday’s 42-4 thrashing at the hands of Canterbury.
“They were squeaky clean today,” he said.
“As the season comes towards an end, there’s six games left, and when you’re sitting where we are on the table, there’s no doubt about it, they’re all important.
“But we really do just have to focus on the next game.”
Gagai finds unlikely agent in Stuart
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart says Newcastle shouldn’t think twice about re-signing Dane Gagai after the speedster shone in the Knights’ heavy loss to the Raiders.
The 34-year-old was shifted to fullback to replace star Kayln Ponga, and terrorised the Raiders’ right edge, inspiring tries and leading their swift ball movement at a wet GIO Stadium on Sunday.
It meant the first half was a see-sawing contest, with the scores locked at 18-all at the break, before the ladder-leading Canberra pulled away to win 44-18.
“You look at Dane Gagai and he’d be the first player I would re-sign,” Stuart told reporters after the game.
“He was by far the hungriest, best player out there tonight. He just never stopped trying. That builds teams.”
Gagai was dropped from his centre position in the Queensland State of Origin team this season and replaced with Roosters bolter Robert Toiaand playmaker Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
The pairing was Queensland’s most inexperienced but made an impact, meaning Gagai did not gain a recall.
While he shone in the first half against Canberra, Gagai was unable to reignite Newcastle in the second half as the Green Machine scored five unanswered tries, didn’t let up on errors and delivered a solid defensive display.
The Knights’ season is now all but over as they sit well adrift of the top eight, tied on 16 points with last-placed South Sydney and without stars Ponga, Bradman Best and Fletcher Sharpe.
with AAP
