Wheele dealt bad hand on eve of grand final
20Sep07
Ryan Wheele will miss the Jim Beam Cup grand final after being diagnosed with a broken hand this week.
THE Entrance winger Ryan Wheele will miss the Jim Beam Cup grand final against the Sydney Bulls tomorrow after X-rays revealed this week he has broken his hand in three places.
Wheele injured his hand in the Tigers' 18-16 win over Cabramatta in Saturday's final but was confident the damage was minimal.
``I'm shattered,'' Wheele said.
``This was going to be it for me. I was going to give the game away if I could win another grand final with the club.''
In a rugged match against Cabramatta, Wheele injured his hand 20 minutes from full-time and then suffered a head gash three minutes from the end.
He played on battered and bruised to see his side to victory before he saw the doctor after the match. He was given 11 stitches to repair the head wound.
``It was when he was stitching my head I said you better have a look at my hand too,'' Wheele said.
``He thought it was probably only ligament and tendon damage. On Sunday it was feeling better and I could make a fist but the X-ray on Monday revealed three fractures.''
Wheele, 28, played in the Tigers' 2003 grand final win over Wentworthville. He then went to England for two years before pulling on the boots for the Tigers again last year.
He had only missed one game all year before this latest injury and was going to give up the game after this season due to work commitments.
``The boys are asking me to play one more year,'' Wheele said.
Brett Blaker, Jamie Davis, Brian Tritton and coach Jamy Forbes were all part of the 2003 grand final-winning side and are hoping to win the club's second Jim Beam Cup title at the Sydney Football Stadium tomorrow.
The replacement of Ryan Cribb for Wheele is likely to be the only change to the side that defeated Cabramatta last week.
The Bulls head into the match as favourites after thrashing The Entrance 50-10 in their previous match.
The grand final will be a curtain raiser to the NRL premliminary final between Manly and the Cowboys and kicks off at 5.25pm.
Source: Central Coast Express Advocate