Battered Mullen a chance to tackle Bunnies

[Pumba]

Battered Mullen a chance to tackle Bunnies
BY BRETT KEEBLE

JARROD Mullen felt he let his teammates down when he hobbled off Toyota Stadium with a hip injury with 15 minutes left of Newcastle's nail-biter against Cronulla on Saturday night.

His left hip bore the brunt of Ben Ross's stray knee and he was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Sharks protected a 14-13 lead then kicked a late penalty goal to win 16-13, sending the Knights (18 points) tumbling to 12th on the NRL ladder.

Mullen has deep bruising and will have scans and treatment today, but he remains hopeful of recovering in time to play against South Sydney at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday.

Calf cramps forced the former NSW playmaker to make a similar early exit from Newcastle's 24-16 loss to the Dragons at EAS a fortnight earlier, and he cut a dejected figure sitting in the corner of the visitors' dressing-room on Saturday night.

"With my calf thing before and now this with my hip, I just feel like I'm letting my teammates down, so I'm not feeling too flash at the moment," Mullen said.

"But I'll see the doctor and I'll do everything I can to be ready."

Mullen's kicks led to tries for Zeb Taia and rookie Aku Uate in the first half, then he potted a field goal from in front with 50 seconds left to give his side a 13-12 lead at the break.

The Knights missed his direction over the closing stages and can ill afford to lose him for an extended period, given they are already without Danny Buderus (knee), Steve Simpson (ankle), Ben Cross (knee and thumb), Wes Naiqama (foot), Matt Hilder (thumb), Jesse Royal (knee) and Adam MacDougall (calf).

Knights medical officer Neil Halpin saw Mullen yesterday and rated him "some chance" of playing against Souths.

Buderus, who has missed the past three games with a fracture in his left knee, will have scans today and hopes to return against the Rabbitohs.

Halpin said Simpson and MacDougall should be available but would be assessed this week.

Sharks skipper Paul Gallen was reported for a high tackle on Cooper Vuna in the 42nd minute.

* Newcastle recorded their biggest win of the NYC season, thrashing Cronulla 56-4 on Saturday.

Link

 

[Jono078]

Hmm NBN news said it would be a 2 week to season ending injury unless we make the finals.

What is it with us and injury prone halves

Mullen breaks down a fair bit.

 

[transporter]

Guys I heard he's out for 6 weeks.

Its a massive blow to us, who do u reckon we should put at half.

I think we should put Gids at 5/8 & dureau at half,

 

[Jono078]

Nope. I'm happy for Bailey to stay in the halves for now and let Dureau run the show.

Unless Karawana gets a call up.

 

[Joker's Wild]

FFFFFaaaaarrrrrrkkkkkk! Injuries and poor disipline are killing us this year.

 

[black knight]

I still believe Dureau is underdone. He shows flashes of potential but just isn't consistent enough to be a quality halfback. However, due to injury, I think he may be the only option we have at 7 if Mullen can't back up, much to my distress.

I would rather see what Walsh has to offer. Although, being a fairly must win situation against the Rabbits makes selection this week a serious nightmare!

 

[Karmawave]

I still believe Dureau is underdone. He shows flashes of potential but just isn't consistent enough to be a quality halfback.

That's it 100%. Consistency is what is lacking, and the whole " only young " thing is complete rubbish because the bloke turns 22 next week.

22 is not all that young in rugby league terms.

Thurston is 25
Peter Wallace is 22
Mitchell Pearce is 19
Cooper Cronk is 24

That's just a few names.

I think we'd know before the age of 22 if Dureau was going to be consistent enough to actively compete week in week out against players with far superior ability, and the reluctance to play Scott Dureau at halfback by Brian Smith for the last 2, 3 months says alot really.

He is a very solid back up half.

 

[perverse]

lol, we looked a thousand times sharper again on the weekend when dureau was on the field. the forwards provided nothing and should be the ones who take responsibility for the loss. dureau, mullen, uate... none of them got any room on the weekend whatsoever. it was tough being a back out there.

 

[Karmawave]

lol, we looked a thousand times sharper again on the weekend when dureau was on the field. the forwards provided nothing and should be the ones who take responsibility for the loss. dureau, mullen, uate... none of them got any room on the weekend whatsoever. it was tough being a back out there.

Agree. It was the forwards who failed to lay the platform last weekend.

 

[Joker's Wild]

That's it 100%. Consistency is what is lacking, and the whole " only young " thing is complete rubbish because the bloke turns 22 next week.

22 is not all that young in rugby league terms.

Thurston is 25
Peter Wallace is 22
Mitchell Pearce is 19
Cooper Cronk is 24

That's just a few names.

I think we'd know before the age of 22 if Dureau was going to be consistent enough to actively compete week in week out against players with far superior ability, and the reluctance to play Scott Dureau at halfback by Brian Smith for the last 2, 3 months says alot really.

He is a very solid back up half.

Yeah he is not really that young in age but in NRL experience he is virtually an infant compared to those mentioned above. Experience is the key and Scotty simply hasnt got enough of it yet to be consistantly good all game.

I think BS is building him up slowly, the jury is out on whether that has/will be the correct path to be taking with Scotty.

 

[Yosh]

That's it 100%. Consistency is what is lacking, and the whole " only young " thing is complete rubbish because the bloke turns 22 next week.

22 is not all that young in rugby league terms.

Thurston is 25
Peter Wallace is 22
Mitchell Pearce is 19
Cooper Cronk is 24

That's just a few names.

I think we'd know before the age of 22 if Dureau was going to be consistent enough to actively compete week in week out against players with far superior ability, and the reluctance to play Scott Dureau at halfback by Brian Smith for the last 2, 3 months says alot really.

He is a very solid back up half.

He has only played a handful of FG games... Give him a little time, I mean I can see where your coming from but when I watch him I feel alot more safe and confident then when Walshy is playing... Duearu has a great kicking game and passing is good to. Needs to learn how to run the ball but will come with experience as he gets older. I dont see him being a crap defender either, has much more potential then Walshy and if we let him play his game week in week out will become a premium halfback@!!

 

[Karmawave]

One thing I love about Dureau, is he is a very, very good organiser, and not shy to tell his forwards what to do.

That's a great thing - he never shuts up on the field.

 

[Adsy]

One thing I love about Dureau, is he is a very, very good organiser, and not shy to tell his forwards what to do.

That's a great thing - he never shuts up on the field.

That's why we need Dureau at 7, Mullen at 6.

Dureau can organise the forwards and call the plays touching the ball 3 or 4 times a set, then inject Mullen in once or twice a set to get it out to our backs (hopefully giving Aku some room) or running it himself.

Dureau also kicking down the right side of the field and Mullen the left will work best. Bailey can't kick at all and Kurts kicking game is a work in progress.

 

[Pika]

Guys I heard he's out for 6 weeks.

Its a massive blow to us, who do u reckon we should put at half.

I think we should put Gids at 5/8 & dureau at half,

I spoke to Mullo and Broughy (rehab guy) this morning.

He will have the fluid drained later this week and is a reasonable chance for Souths.

Mullo, Broughy and Dr Halpin were all a little perplexed at where the media were getting thier info regarding how long he will be out for.

 

[Jono078]

Sweet news then!

Cheers Pika.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Thank ffffffffaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkk for that.

Nice work Pika.

 

[Adsy]

Thata boy Pika!

Any other good news. Bedsy, Simmo? How are they travelling?

 

[Jobdog]

Now, all we need is a fair go from the ref this week

 

[Jono078]

I still believe if you're good enough you can overcome the refs.

Although as someone else said being the most penalised and ALSO the team that gets the least penalties that is hard. If we were 1 of those it would be easier lol.

 

[perverse]

I still believe if you're good enough you can overcome the refs.

Although as someone else said being the most penalised and ALSO the team that gets the least penalties that is hard. If we were 1 of those it would be easier lol.

the top teams can definitely overcome it, no doubt... however when you're a middle of the table team in the mdidle of a reasonably intense rebuilding phase... it's a bit much to try and battle against.