Johnson gone for the season

[ozbash]

Vodafone Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson faces a recovery period of four to five months following surgery this morning after breaking his left ankle in last night’s NRL clash against Manly at Mount Smart Stadium.

The 24-year-old suffered the injury when his leg was jammed under the weight of Manly defender Tom Symonds as he was scoring a try just before halftime.

Scans established he had fractured his fibula and suffered ligament damage. He has had a plate inserted as well as two syndesmotic screws.

“It’s a huge disappointment for Shaun and for everyone involved with the club,” said Vodafone Warriors head coach Andrew McFadden.

“He faces a long recovery but he’ll have the best medical care available.”

McFadden said it was projected Johnson would be able to return to full training late in the year.

 

[Auckland4ever]

It's going to seriously suck if this has long term effects on his mobility & leg strength. Regardless of who replaced Johnson, I'd be confident that we could still play finals football if we were a really good defensive side. Unfortunately, this is something we still seem a million miles away from being.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

tuis got this

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Astounded your expectations were ever more than fringe top 8 tbh

A couple of weeks ago we were 4th, at that point I was hoping for a 4-6 finish and maybe second round of the finals or a semi. Never seriously though we were a hope of a GF this year.

 

[vvvrulz]

Pretty much agree, hardly word-beaters with him - losing him in a game is big, for that game... season's been hanging by a thread all year, still is

While this is absolutely true, it doesn't hide the fact of how much this team relies on Johnson.

Pretty much the only time we look an attacking threat is when Johnson is on his game, and a couple of times he single handedly stole the game himself.

Rightly or wrongly, the buck pretty much stops at him at the moment.
It is the Andrew Johns effect.

Best of luck to Tui and hopefully they might consider giving Tomkins a crack in the halves.
But the already fishy season is definitely gone now, we're not making the 8.
Sitting at #4 not long ago was a bit of a red herring.

 

[LeagueNut]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11487230

NRL: Lolohea embraces halfback role

Tui Lolohea says he's ready to step up and play halfback after Shaun Johnson's season-ending injury.

The Warriors' catastrophic Saturday night at Mt Smart was compounded when head coach Andrew McFadden confirmed the worst fears in the post-match conference.

McFadden looked devastated and he could hardly bring himself to say the words "season ending".

The Warriors reshuffled as best they could as Lolohea moved to play in the halves to accommodate the loss of Johnson.

He has featured on the right wing in recent weeks - scoring back-to-back braces in the Warriors' home wins over Canberra and Melbourne - but he started the Manly game at right centre.

The 20-year-old stepped up for the Warriors when they needed him as cover for Sam Tomkins at fullback earlier in the season and it looks as if he will have to step up and perform again in another new position.

Such versatility is incredibly impressive for a player in his first full season in the NRL and he seemed to be relishing the opportunity.

"Tonight was tough. Really tough. I've never really played in such a stop, start game like that.

"It was difficult for everyone to adjust when Shaun went off but I'm ready. Halfback is where I want to play and I'm ready to step up."

Lolohea's bullish attitude was refreshing as the mood among the players in the sheds was a stark contrast from the thrilling win the Warriors enjoyed over Melbourne just two weeks ago.

That success propelled the Warriors up to fourth and optimism was sky-high but the reality check since then has been brutally harsh.

Any team would struggle to recover from losing their main halfback during a game and the Warriors were no exception.

It was 6-6 when Johnson departed and Manly's attack was ruthless in the second half, against a young, shell-shocked Warriors team, as they went on to win 32-12.

Nathan Friend's back-flip pass and the joy of three excellent wins in a row are now just a distant memory.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I think deep down inside, we all knew we weren't winning a premiership this year. So this might be a blessing in disguise for Tui's career and our long-term prospects.

And if anyone thinks two spine players are going to turn us right around next year, I reckon they're wrong. Our fullback and hooker have been our two best players over the last month, yet we've still been trounced at home by Manly and totally outclassed by the Roosters and put in some other suspect performances.

What we need is a collective buy-in to effort each week, which hopefully losing our go-to 'chuck the ball to Shaun and see how we go' encourages.

In saying all this, there's maybe 1 or 2 sides that wouldn't plummet in the premiership betting if they lost their most influential half. The Roosters could lay claim, and arguably that's about it. So it's no surprise we're now completely written off and it shouldn't be seen as a poor indictment necessarily.

Might require some coaching as well, which I think we're all starting to think has been shown up a bit in recent weeks.

 

[Rich102]

For me the biggest problem is the lack of a "thinking" leader.
Someone able to direct the play and smart enough to change things when the game plan isn't working.
Mannering is a hard worker; not sure he is a director or thinker.
Johnson should be doing this job but has shown no talent for it.

Gee we play stupid at times.

 

[jaseg]

And if anyone thinks two spine players are going to turn us right around next year, I reckon they're wrong. Our fullback and hooker have been our two best players over the last month, yet we've still been trounced at home by Manly and totally outclassed by the Roosters and put in some other suspect performances.

What we need is a collective buy-in to effort each week, which hopefully losing our go-to 'chuck the ball to Shaun and see how we go' encourages.

Totally agree with the collective buy-in, but not so much with the comments RE RTS/Luke. I'll admit, I was happy yet not quite as enthused as some others here when the signings were made, but I've come around - particularly in the last few weeks. RTS & Luke are up there but are not quite the best player in the NRL in their respective positions (my opinion anyway), but they are both probably the best in their positions at a particular thing - putting their teams on the front foot. Nobody beats them for metre gains.. and with our attack, getting on the front foot is a near guarantee of a win - quite often our losses have come off the back of our forwards getting smashed.. less likely when you have RTS (and Manu + possibly Maumalo on the wings) starting sets (plus hopefully more availability from Hoff - for his early set runs) well, and Luke keeping the team rolling through... just look at what he did to the Knights this week (ok, not a good quality opposition but still).

It's not just the ability of the two recruits - it's the type of players they are... and I'm thinking (and hoping) they might just fit perfectly. All up, I think they might be a catalyst for something pretty special here - although I'd like another middle forward to help ensure we are smashing up over the advantage line (the outstanding candidate from currently off-contract players is Scott Bolton IMO).

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I think deep down inside, we all knew we weren't winning a premiership this year. So this might be a blessing in disguise for Tui's career and our long-term prospects.

And if anyone thinks two spine players are going to turn us right around next year, I reckon they're wrong. Our fullback and hooker have been our two best players over the last month, yet we've still been trounced at home by Manly and totally outclassed by the Roosters and put in some other suspect performances.

What we need is a collective buy-in to effort each week, which hopefully losing our go-to 'chuck the ball to Shaun and see how we go' encourages.

In saying all this, there's maybe 1 or 2 sides that wouldn't plummet in the premiership betting if they lost their most influential half. The Roosters could lay claim, and arguably that's about it. So it's no surprise we're now completely written off and it shouldn't be seen as a poor indictment necessarily.

Might require some coaching as well, which I think we're all starting to think has been shown up a bit in recent weeks.

Agree, and the only reason the Roosters wouldn't be rooted if they lost their halves is they're a rare example of a quality team with relatively weak halves. And I think most of those other teams would've lost last week in the same situation. I'll judge us more on how much fight we put up over the next couple of rounds.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Oh jaseg RTS/Luke are guns - no question about it. But neither would made a blind bit of difference on Saturday is my point I guess.

It's actually probably pointed at the coaching box if anything. I feel like our selection/interchange use has been diabolical. If I don't see major changes this week it'll be very worrying - the Sharks are going well and won't fear us one bit.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Agree, and the only reason the Roosters wouldn't be rooted if they lost their halves is they're a rare example of a quality team with relatively weak halves. And I think most of those other teams would've lost last week in the same situation. I'll judge us more on how much fight we put up over the next couple of rounds.

Xactly. We might not win games, we might not make the top eight. But based on our draw, with or without SJ, we should compete for 80 mins. We shouldn't ship 30 points. We shouldn't be dominated by one of the least-vaunted packs in the comp. There will remain an expectation the right side is picked and it plays as a fringe top 8 side who might not have their star #7 to tip them over the line, but they should be in a position that someone tries to.

 

[shiznit]

If I was Cappy and Doyle id name Tui at half and tell him he's it for the foreseeable future.

I'd also fly over a specialist coach to work with him for the rest of this season and the kiwis tour/pre-season.

Obviously Joey is taken... Marty Johns would be a guy I'd use... He did a wonderful job turning cooper Cronk from a back rower/hooker in to a halfback so could be a useful hand for Tui. Obviously his media commitments are an issue but to be fair it would be good for the club's profile.

There's other guys out there who could do a good job.. Laurie Daley could almost be a guy you could approach...

 

[The Pa Kid]

Long term this should improve the team, learning to play and win without your best player but short term there is going to be a bit of pain. So what is Cappy going to do?
Does he go into damage control mode and throw all his resource into defence, limit the attack to one side of the field, kick to the wing or corner on the last in every set and hope upon hope the team sneak into eight.
Or does he look at it as a learning opportunity. Replace players who will not be at the club next year or not performing, give those a go who he has seen do things that have surprised and interest him or try something that someone on his coaching staff may have always wanted to do.
But alas this competition is about results which do dictate a persons future. I suspect he will take the safe route.