New injury setback for Kurt Gidley
ROBERT DILLON AND BRETT KEEBLE
THE Newcastle Knights are sweating on Kurt Gidley's visit to one of Australia's leading knee specialists tomorrow amid fears their skipper could miss the first third of the NRL season.
MRI scans on Monday indicated Gidley had sustained only a minor tear to his left hamstring during Saturday's All Stars match, but an ultrasound yesterday cast doubt on that encouraging diagnosis.
He was initially expected to miss at most a few games, but there are now concerns that Gidley might have ruptured the pes anserinus tendon behind his kneecap, a rare injury that could require surgery and a recovery of 10 weeks.
The Test star will travel to Sydney tomorrow for a consultation with Dr Merv Cross that will have a major bearing on Newcastle's early-season hopes. Cross is an Order of Australia Medal recipient for his revolutionary work in knee surgery.
Knights coach Rick Stone did not want to speculate on the extent of Gidley's injury but admitted yesterday's revelations were a worry.
"Obviously we'll be guided by the specialists as to what course of action we need to take," Stone said.
"Kurt doesn't quite know where he's at at the moment. Obviously he's a little bit confused and a little bit I suppose disheartened, but at the same time there's a process to go through and that's what we're going to do."
Gidley said yesterday that he did not want to comment "until I get some definite answers" from Cross.
Knights surgical consultant Dr Neil Halpin said Gidley's injury was the first of its kind he had seen in almost 30 years as a sports physician.
But Halpin said that even if Gidley required surgery, he anticipated a recovery period of no more than 10 weeks.
"Firstly, he doesn't have any [anterior] cruciate damage, he doesn't have any major ligament damage, and the knee itself is fine, but what he does have is something quite unusual," Halpin said.
"It's about as weird an injury as you're likely to get, to be honest.
"He's torn part of the pes anserinus, which is a tendon on the inside of the knee, and it's formed by three tendons joining together one of the adductor tendons, one of the hamstrings and a muscle in the front of the thigh.
"The question is what do you do about it. You could make a good case for leaving it alone and letting it heal up by itself, or you could make a good case for putting a few stitches in it, so I've asked him to see Merv Cross.
"It's such an unusual injury you need a senior guy who might have seen one of these, because I haven't seen one.
"This is my first in 27 seasons of football.
"Let's look at the worst scenario.
"Let's say it even needs [surgical] repairing.
"He's probably looking at about 10 weeks, but he's certainly not looking at a full reconstruction or anything like that with a cruciate, which would put you out for the year."
Halpin said it was difficult to make a definitive diagnosis from the initial MRI taken on Monday because of excessive bleeding so, after seeking a second opinion, he sent Gidley yesterday for an ultrasound scan at Adamstown.
"The initial MRI report was that he had a bit of a tear there but not a lot, so I got a second opinion and they thought there was more damage, and that's why we got the ultrasound and that showed more damage again," he said.
The man expected to deputise while Gidley is sidelined, former Wests Tigers fullback Shannon McDonnell, is also in doubt for Saturday night's trial against Melbourne at St John Oval because of a hip injury.
McDonnell was unable to participate in yesterday's ball-work session and Stone said versatile Wes Naiqama and youngster Peter Mata'utia would interchange as fullback against Melbourne.
Herald
