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Timmins hit by curse
By Dean Ritchie
August 29, 2003
IT's hard to believe that yet another St George Illawarra Test player is in danger of missing the Kangaroo tour.
It's as though the famous red and whites are carrying some kind of curse.
Trent Barrett, Jason Ryles and Luke Bailey are unavailable either through injury or for medical reasons, now Shaun Timmins may join them.
Like Bailey, Timmins is still on deck for the Dragons but he knows his physical limitations could rob him of the trip of a lifetime.
Timmins missed nearly two seasons battling chronic knee problems and somehow overcame extreme adversity to get back on the field for the Dragons, NSW and Australia.
While that was happening the condition of his knee limited him to training only a couple of days a week.
That was OK by his club coach Nathan Brown and Origin coach Phil Gould but the same understanding may not apply with Australian coach Chris Anderson.
While Anderson says he will be guided by medical advice, he is not prepared to take any player away to England and France who can't train every day of the week if required.
That is potentially devastating news for Timmins who has his heart set on making the tour.
It looks as though Timmins' major hope of salvation rests with St George Illawarra's fortunes for the remainder of the season.
If the Dragons either don't make the eight or are eliminated in the first week he will have between a month and six weeks to recuperate before the tour.
After what Timmins has achieved so far this year, missing the trip would be a sporting tragedy similar to the Wayne Pearce and Wally Lewis affairs in 1986 and 1990 respectively.
In '86 Pearce made a late comeback from a knee injury only to be ruled medically unfit to tour, a decision hotly disputed by him and his club Balmain.
Four years later Australian captain Lewis suffered a similar fate with a broken arm and again the medical ruling sparked furious debate.
As a tourist himself in 1978 and 1982, Anderson knows what it means to a player to make the game's ultimate trip, but insists he has a responsibility to take only fully fit players away.
"It will be up to the medical people to suss out Shaun's condition," Anderson says. "It would be tough to expect the Australian team to say it would be all right for a player not to train until Thursday of any week on tour.
"There's a risk taking away a limited number of players in the first place, let alone one who might be fragile."
NSW and Australia struggled to find a five-eighth this year before Timmins came to the rescue.
Should he be unavailable Anderson and the national selectors will be back to square one in the hunt for a pivot.
During the Test match the coach used Craig Wing at pivot and switched Timmins to his more familiar lock position.
"Wing would again be my choice if Timmins is unavailable," Anderson says.
Oh, and by the way, the return of Brett Kimmorley for the Sharks this weekend will further muddy the halfback picture for the tour.
Anderson remains an unabashed Kimmorley fan and will be pushing for his inclusion in the absence of Andrew Johns.
"Noddy will have had a couple of games back to prove his fitness," Anderson says.
"And don't forget Australia has not lost a game with him at halfback."
A SIDEBAR to the ongoing judiciary debate has emerged from the Roosters club.
With consistency the name of the game the Roosters have seethed for much of the season over a couple of spear tackle incidents that went unchecked.
They involved winger Todd Byrne and skipper Brad Fittler who remain the worse for wear as a result of the illegal tackles.
Byrne was upended in round nine at Telstra Stadium by Bulldogs centre Ben Harris in front of Bill Harrigan and a touch judge who took not action.
Nor did the judiciary review panel.
Fittler hit the deck in similar fashion in round 20 at Penrith Stadium when tackled by Tony Puletua and again the incident went through to the keeper.
For the record Fittler has missed a few weeks because of the damage caused to a shoulder and Byrne's neck is not what it should be.
WARRIORS prop Richard Villasanti will be under scrutiny from assorted interested parties including his nemesis Adrian Morley at Aussie Stadium on Sunday.
It was Villasanti's suspect tackle on Freddy Fittler in the second half of last year's grand final that fired up Morley to produce a match-turning defensive performance.
Morley and the Roosters believed Villasanti used his head to help tackle Fittler and the Broncos hold a similar view of his hit on Shane Webcke last week. Villasanti v Morley, everyone would like to see that
By Dean Ritchie
August 29, 2003
IT's hard to believe that yet another St George Illawarra Test player is in danger of missing the Kangaroo tour.
It's as though the famous red and whites are carrying some kind of curse.
Trent Barrett, Jason Ryles and Luke Bailey are unavailable either through injury or for medical reasons, now Shaun Timmins may join them.
Like Bailey, Timmins is still on deck for the Dragons but he knows his physical limitations could rob him of the trip of a lifetime.
Timmins missed nearly two seasons battling chronic knee problems and somehow overcame extreme adversity to get back on the field for the Dragons, NSW and Australia.
While that was happening the condition of his knee limited him to training only a couple of days a week.
That was OK by his club coach Nathan Brown and Origin coach Phil Gould but the same understanding may not apply with Australian coach Chris Anderson.
While Anderson says he will be guided by medical advice, he is not prepared to take any player away to England and France who can't train every day of the week if required.
That is potentially devastating news for Timmins who has his heart set on making the tour.
It looks as though Timmins' major hope of salvation rests with St George Illawarra's fortunes for the remainder of the season.
If the Dragons either don't make the eight or are eliminated in the first week he will have between a month and six weeks to recuperate before the tour.
After what Timmins has achieved so far this year, missing the trip would be a sporting tragedy similar to the Wayne Pearce and Wally Lewis affairs in 1986 and 1990 respectively.
In '86 Pearce made a late comeback from a knee injury only to be ruled medically unfit to tour, a decision hotly disputed by him and his club Balmain.
Four years later Australian captain Lewis suffered a similar fate with a broken arm and again the medical ruling sparked furious debate.
As a tourist himself in 1978 and 1982, Anderson knows what it means to a player to make the game's ultimate trip, but insists he has a responsibility to take only fully fit players away.
"It will be up to the medical people to suss out Shaun's condition," Anderson says. "It would be tough to expect the Australian team to say it would be all right for a player not to train until Thursday of any week on tour.
"There's a risk taking away a limited number of players in the first place, let alone one who might be fragile."
NSW and Australia struggled to find a five-eighth this year before Timmins came to the rescue.
Should he be unavailable Anderson and the national selectors will be back to square one in the hunt for a pivot.
During the Test match the coach used Craig Wing at pivot and switched Timmins to his more familiar lock position.
"Wing would again be my choice if Timmins is unavailable," Anderson says.
Oh, and by the way, the return of Brett Kimmorley for the Sharks this weekend will further muddy the halfback picture for the tour.
Anderson remains an unabashed Kimmorley fan and will be pushing for his inclusion in the absence of Andrew Johns.
"Noddy will have had a couple of games back to prove his fitness," Anderson says.
"And don't forget Australia has not lost a game with him at halfback."
A SIDEBAR to the ongoing judiciary debate has emerged from the Roosters club.
With consistency the name of the game the Roosters have seethed for much of the season over a couple of spear tackle incidents that went unchecked.
They involved winger Todd Byrne and skipper Brad Fittler who remain the worse for wear as a result of the illegal tackles.
Byrne was upended in round nine at Telstra Stadium by Bulldogs centre Ben Harris in front of Bill Harrigan and a touch judge who took not action.
Nor did the judiciary review panel.
Fittler hit the deck in similar fashion in round 20 at Penrith Stadium when tackled by Tony Puletua and again the incident went through to the keeper.
For the record Fittler has missed a few weeks because of the damage caused to a shoulder and Byrne's neck is not what it should be.
WARRIORS prop Richard Villasanti will be under scrutiny from assorted interested parties including his nemesis Adrian Morley at Aussie Stadium on Sunday.
It was Villasanti's suspect tackle on Freddy Fittler in the second half of last year's grand final that fired up Morley to produce a match-turning defensive performance.
Morley and the Roosters believed Villasanti used his head to help tackle Fittler and the Broncos hold a similar view of his hit on Shane Webcke last week. Villasanti v Morley, everyone would like to see that
