Possible early return for Lauitiiti

[SpaceMonkey]

<table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=354 border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td><span>Lauiti'iti may return sooner than expected</span>
<span>2 April 2003</span>
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</td></tr> <tr> <td class=newstext width=348><span>Ali Lauiti'iti has dispelled fears the New Zealand Warriors' best attacking forward would miss most of the National Rugby League (NRL) season after an arm operation.
Lauiti'iti said he hoped to receive a clearance on Friday to resume training next week and was aiming at a return to the NRL in late June or early July.
Should that occur, he could make his comeback in round 16 against South Sydney in Sydney or a week later against North Queensland in Townsville.
With 26 rounds in the regular season, plus a possible berth in the playoffs for the Warriors, there would be plenty of NRL football for Lauiti'iti to play.
In addition the Kiwis have two Tests against Australia.
Lauiti'iti said he would see a specialist on Friday for the latest update on his arm and seemed confident the report would be a good one.
He had a three-hour operation in February to remove a cyst from a bone in his upper left arm.
It required replacing the damaged bone with some from his hip, and the arm was stapled rather than stitched.</span> <span>

<a target=_top>Brought to you by AAP</a>
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[ozbash]

anderson is slutted about this.
the first he new about it was when tony veitch shoved a microphone under his nose yesterday.

ando reckons ali could be in for a stir up about media protocol.

i see yak has put the article up on the dark side and he says ali,s operation was to remove a cancerous growth.
not so,,,
he had a cyst on the bone . it wasnt cancerous, but if left would have weakened his arm in such a way that every time it was bumped,it would break.

hope ali is right.....

 

[imported_JoeD]

You think Ando was keeping his recovery under wraps so he could surprise everyone when he came back? In any case I just hope he is back as soon as possible and his run of injuries stops.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I'd say that's about right Joe, although it's not necessary a tactic to confuse the opposition as the Warriors management's traditional conservative approach to injuries; they always seem to feed the public worse case scenarios so the players are usually back on time or earlier than expected.

 

[ozbash]

Warriors coach Daniel Anderson is mystified by Ali Lauiti'iti's claims that he will be back training next week.
The star forward had a bone graft after developing a cyst on his upper arm before the season started and was set to miss the majority of the year as a result.
Now Lauiti'iti has been quoted in the Australian media saying he was aiming to be back in the side by late June.
But Anderson is not sure how the big guy has come to that conclusion, saying he must have an elf on his shoulder telling him stories, as he has not seen a doctor since the operation and is not due to until the end of this week.
Anderson says he is a bit annoyed at Lauiti'iti, but says there's not a lot he can do because Ali is a lot bigger than him and he is probably more nervous about giving Ali a dressing-down than Ali will be about receiving it.

 

[Johnsy]

Lets hope so for the Brown Hornets sake.

Johnsy

 

[Ozbash2]

Yea it''ll be good to see the big fulla back, we've missed his offloading more than anything.
Wai and Swann have been looking for work, something which Lauiti'iti was guilty of not doing, however they just don't have Ali's natural flare, imo..

 

[imported_JoeD]

I heard an interview with Anderson yesterday and Allan Mac asked him about Toopi's return to good form against Manly last weekend. Ando made a good point that he thought Toops missed Ali more than any other player because of the second phase play he creates. Awen started to try it but got injured so we have been doing it tough in that department.