It's a tough call for Tonga
MICHAEL THOMPSON | July 13th, 2011
WILLIE Tonga hasn't given a firm indication of whether or not he'll leave the North Queensland Cowboys but the Queensland and Australian representative said 'anything's possible' in regard to his playing future.
Tonga played for 47 minutes during North Queensland's 22-12 victory over the Newcastle Knights on Monday but sustained an injured sternum on 32 minutes courtesy of an Adam MacDougall tackle that has since seen the Knights centre hit with a grade one dangerous contact charge.
The Cowboys' star centre also copped a badly corked knee and will fight to take his place on the field against the Wests Tigers this weekend, although it's his decision to test himself on the NRL open market that's the talk of the football community.
Tonga said he'll 'definitely' make a decision on his future in the next two weeks - the period of time granted him by the Cowboys after he told club officials he was unhappy in Townsville.
The 27-year-old was reluctant to discuss the full details of his reasons for wanting to look elsewhere, but did reveal there were off-field issues at play.
"It's a hard one, I don't want to go too much into it but like I've said I'll sort it out in the next couple of weeks," Tonga said.
"But I'm not ruling anything out at all, I love the club and I love the boys.
"Me moving from the Bulldogs to the Cowboys was probably the best thing I could've done at that stage in my career when I did make that transition.
"As far as the footy side of it goes I couldn't be happier - I want to make that clear - if I was to move on it would have nothing to do with anyone at the club or the club itself."
Reports emerged late last week that Tonga had been linked with a move to the Parramatta Eels although Parramatta officials and Tonga himself have dismissed the claims.
The Eels however could be in the box seat to sign Tonga considering that younger brother Esi has already been signed to the club for next year.
Tonga still has another year to run on his four-year contract with the Cowboys but it's believed the rep centre has been unhappy with his Townsville-based lifestyle for at least the past six months.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his future at the club Tonga said nothing would distract him from helping his Cowboys teammates secure more victories without star playmaker Johnathan Thurston leading into the NRL finals.
"There's talk about me and my future and I'll clear that up in the next couple of weeks, but for now I'm at the Cowboys and I'm fully committed to winning a few games before Johnno gets back," he said.
'Hopefully I'll build on last night and get on top of my injuries and be right for next week."
Tonga said his suspected sternum injury had caused him discomfort and a loss of sleep following his team's stirring win before a 17,212-strong Newcastle crowd.
"I'm not sure if I've done a bit of rib cartilage, it's pretty painful and I only had two hours sleep last night.
"I got caught a little bit and there's limited strength and stuff, but other than that I felt all right out there."
