SBW to miss Tri Nations?

[DIEHARD]

Williams set to miss Tri Nations

16 August 2005

New Zealand has suffered a double blow to its Tri-Nations chances with Bulldogs star Sonny Bill Williams all but ruled out and fellow backrower Tony Puletua battling to overcome a shoulder injury.

Bulldogs doctor Hugh Hazard said he "wasn't confident" Williams would overcome a knee injury in time to contest the Tri Nations rugby league series starting in October.

And Puletua said his plan to make a comeback for Penrith this weekend had been postponed indefinitely as he battled a shoulder injury that had sidelined him for 19 weeks.

Hazard said Williams' knee injury sustained 10 weeks ago had not responded well to treatment and was unlikely to return for the Bulldogs this season.

Williams is part of a star-studded Bulldogs injury list which also includes Brent Sherwin (thumb), Hazem El Masri (knee), Luke Patten (ankle) and Willie Tonga (knee).

The Bulldogs had been sweating on the return of Williams as they try to keep their title defence intact.

But the Bulldogs now look set to become the first defending premier to miss the finals since 1996 after slipping to ninth - three points shy of the top eight with three rounds left.

"His situation at the moment is that he is not fit to train fully, we monitor him week by week," Hazard said of Williams who injured his knee three months ago.

"We started to upgrade him and his knee couldn't handle it so we backed him off again.

"That's what we've got to keep doing. We've got to let him go until he settles completely and then see what happens.

"But we are getting pretty late in the year so it is not looking good."

On Williams contesting the Tri Nations, Hazard said: "At this stage I wouldn't be confident about that."

Meanwhile, Puletua joked that he would have to play park football to prove his fitness for the Tri Nations campaign after his NRL comeback plans were ditched by Penrith.

"I had been hoping to play this week but I don't think the coaching staff are on the same page as me," he said.

"They are looking at it a different way. I don't think they want me to come back this year so we'll have to wait and see."

Puletua underwent shoulder surgery after suffering what was supposed to be a season-ending injury in round five.

"It is supposed to be 24 weeks for it to heal after the operation and they want me to use up the whole 24 weeks," he said.

"I'm at 19 weeks at the moment. I was trying to push for this week but the club said 'no' so that's that.

"I'll have to speak to (coach John Lang) Langy and beg him to play next week."

On his Tri Nations chances, Puletua said: "Tri Nations is still a goal, hopefully I can get into the team and see how we go but the only thing I am worried about is match fitness.

"I have been doing a lot of fitness work and doing well but it's always different to playing a game.

"I might have to play in the local comp or park footy or something to stay fit."

Source: NRL.com

 

[DIEHARD]

Kiwis, Bulldogs in Sonny dispute
By Brent Read
August 17, 2005

THE BULLDOGS are on a collision course with New Zealand officials over the availability of several players including Sonny Bill Williams for the Tri-Nations tour.

The Kiwis are resigned to being without Matt Utai for the northern leg of the tournament as the powerful winger is likely to undergo ankle and shoulder surgery after the two Tests against Australia, to be played in Auckland and Sydney.

He seems certain to be joined on the sidelines during the Tri-Nations tournament by Williams.

The 20-year-old hasn't played since damaging his knee against South Sydney in round 13 and is most unlikely to take the field for the Dogs again in 2005.

The club is likely to insist his injury-enforced sabbatical stretches to the end-of-season Test matches and the Bulldogs doctor, Hugh Hazard, has confirmed Williams needs rest.

"It's just a time thing," Hazard said.

"He's got a small cartilage defect. Given time it will settle but it may take months."

Another Bulldogs source said of Williams: "I'd put money on him not being available."

That news will come as a body-blow to the Kiwis as well as Tri-Nations organisers.

Williams is among the game's biggest drawcards and his presence would help the Kiwis field a competitive outfit.


Bearing that in mind, New Zealand officials are still hopeful the Bulldogs star will take his place.

Fed up with constantly losing in the club vs country debate, NZRL chairman Selwyn Pearson has written to Australian Rugby League chairman Colin Love and NRL chief executive David Gallop calling for independent medical reports on eligible players.

The Kiwis' coach Brian McClennan said Williams, fitness pending, should be allowed to make the decision on whether he tours with the Kiwis.

"Number one for Sonny is his health," McClennan said.

"We care for our own. He would only be selected if he was healthy.

"We'd never put undue pressure on Sonny. Hopefully he's all right."

If Williams overcomes his knee problem in time for the first Tri-Nations game on October 15 at Telstra Stadium, and the Kiwis insist on him being available, the match with Australia would be his first game for four months.

However, McClennan dismissed that as a factor, pointing to Andrew Johns' State of Origin return this year after being sidelined with a broken jaw.

"Look at Andrew Johns with the State of Origin," McClennan said.

"If Sonny is healthy to play, he'll play.

"We would do the right thing and work with the Bulldogs and make a decision. "Sonny Bill Williams is the most exciting footballer in the world. If he's right, you play him."

Source: The Australian

 

[DIEHARD]

Sonny Bill's fractured fairytale needs a miracle - or no Tri-Nations

By Roy Masters
August 17, 2005

Sonny Bill Williams, the player thought to be as unstoppable as wrinkles, has blown a serious hole in his knee.

Nothing short of a medical miracle will allow the Bulldogs second-rower, whom Andrew Johns anointed in March as the code's next great player, to represent either his club or country, New Zealand, this year.

His worst prognosis is an arthritic knee at age 20 that could end his career almost as soon as it began, while his best outlook is a gradual recovery after sustained rest.

Sonny Bill can't even walk four laps of Belmore Sportsground without his knee blowing up.

Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad admitted he had sent a letter to the New Zealand Rugby League preparing it for the possibility Williams would not play for the Kiwis in the October-November Tri-Nations series.

"Only yesterday I sent a letter to the NZRL asking them for the name of the person we should be communicating with regarding our injured players in contention for the Tri-Nations," Noad said. "We've got a 19-year-old guy with bone bruising."

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Pointing out that the Bulldogs also have concerns about injuries to Matt Utai, Roy Asotasi and Jamaal Lolesi, Noad said: "We are concerned at the long-term future of our players and will be discussing that with the NZRL." Considering Williams is New Zealand Player of the Year, International Rugby League Best Newcomer, Dally M Rookie of the Year and RLPA Rookie of the Year - all in one season - the news the code's next great supercar has blown more than a hub cap is serious. Bulldogs doctor Hugh Hazard said: "He has a severe compression of two bones in the knee which has caused a trabecular fracture beneath the cartilage surface.

"Over time the cartilage breaks down and exposes the fracture. It will heal but if we don't give him time, he'll end up with an arthritic knee.

"Old footballers have them but not ones like Sonny Bill, who turns 20 next week."

He joins four other Bulldogs - Willie Tonga, Hazem El Masri, Brett Oliver, Trevor Thurling - almost certain to miss the rest of the season with knee injuries.

As the Bulldogs can attest, knees have busted more footballers than birds or booze.

The NRL has 17 players unavailable with serious knee injuries. Every week the average NRL player's knee absorbs a hit hard enough to make a pinata wince.

You see men weighing 110 kilograms launching themselves like missiles at a leg anchored in the soft turf, while the ball-carrier can't even brace himself because he's looking elsewhere, having rotated his knee past its optimum range, searching for a supporting player. That's a big ask of a joint designed 2½ million years ago to squat around a campfire.

Players' muscles have become bigger and their tendons and ligaments stronger through scientific stretching but the knee joint is as old as man.

Across the NRL each weekend, the knee must continue to act as a hinge, while moving over five different planes and points of contact - gliding, sliding, twisting, rocking and rolling - under pressure from increasingly powerful collisions.

The Bulldogs' concern with Williams is that any gains achieved through rest in August and September may be undone by the Kiwis' notoriously brutal training regimes before the Tri-Nations.

"We are trying to look after his long-term future," Hazard said of Williams's possible return for the Bulldogs. "We don't want to compromise it.

"It's a clinical decision. When it flares up, we back off. We're running out of time for him to play this season. I'm not ruling out the possibility he will return this year but I'm not confident we'll get him back, either."

Fortunately for Williams today's keyhole surgery isn't as big a deal as operations in 1965, when the NFL's next great superstar, the Kansas City Chiefs' Mack Lee Hill, hurt his knee. Like Williams, it was Hill's second pro season. He was terrified of surgery and resisted it until told it was the only alternative. Sadly, Hill died during the operation. The cause has never been stated but it was assumed he died of fright.

The Chiefs dedicated an annual award in his honour but hopefully Sonny Bill will have time to win all his own.

Source: SMH

 

[DIEHARD]

Kiwis want to assess injured players

By Brad Walter
August 17, 2005

New Zealand Rugby League officials have written to their Australian counterparts seeking support for Cronulla doctor Peter Malouf to assess players ruled out of the Tri-Nations series by their clubs.

With speculation that Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall are set to head a cast of Kiwis stars declared unavailable for the international tournament, the NZRL approached Malouf, and the Sharks doctor has agreed to act as an independent medical consultant.

But unlike Australia, the Kiwis do not have the final say on the fitness of their players, and are seeking the backing of the ARL and the NRL for Malouf's appointment.

NZRL officials raised the issue during a meeting with ARL chairman Colin Love on Monday and plan to discuss it today with NRL chief executive David Gallop, who is in Auckland to attend a testimonial lunch for Warriors halfback Stacey Jones ahead of his final home game for the club on the weekend.

Love also received a letter yesterday asking for the ARL's support to help ensure the New Zealand side isn't again affected by the club-versus-country row that last year resulted in the withdrawal of Penrith second-rowers Tony Puletua and Joe Galuvao, Bulldogs winger Matt Utai and Bradford's Lesley Vainikolo.

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"Our chairman, Selwyn Pearson, has reported to us that Peter Malouf from Cronulla had been asked and had agreed to be an independent doctor for the New Zealand Rugby League in the case that there is any dispute with the players' availability," NZRL vice-chairman Sel Bennett said.

"It saves us going to war with anyone because there would be an independent doctor, and if he says there is a problem and the player needs a certain period for recuperation, everyone would abide by that."

Bennett said the NZRL was unaware Williams would not be fit and also hoped that the likes of Marshall, Utai, Roy Asotasi, Jamaal Lolesi and Jason Cayless would be available, despite doubts raised by their clubs.

Marshall told the Herald he would undergo a scan on his shoulder after Wests Tigers' season ends, while Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad plans to write to the NZRL warning them of the possibility that Williams, Utai, Asotasi and Lolesi may be out.

Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan said yesterday that Cayless would visit a specialist next week to determine whether he needed ankle surgery, while Australian second-rower Craig Fitzgibbon requires an operation on his injured finger.

"Sonny Bill is a very keen Kiwi and I don't know whether I'd be talking out of school but he at some stage will be the Kiwis' captain," Bennett said.

"He's got those qualities, and at 20 it's showing out in him already. He's like Stacey was at the same age, and his family has got a deep history in league here.

"If he's still injured, well fair enough, we can live with that. He's got a long career ahead of him. We've got the greatest of faith in [Bulldogs and Australia doctor] Hugh Hazard. We played the game with them last year, they asked us not to play Sonny Bill in the last game if it wasn't crucial and we didn't.

"We didn't play him against France and we didn't play him in the last game against Great Britain - he could have made the difference for us but we played the game with them [the Bulldogs]."

New Kiwis coach Brian McLennan was recently in Sydney and met a number of players, including Williams, Marshall and Puletua, who Panthers general manager Mick Leary said was unlikely to play for the club again this year but would be available for New Zealand if fit.

Melbourne's David Kidwell and Jake Webster, Cronulla's Nigel Vagana, Hutch Maiava and Luke Covell and North Queensland's David Faiumu are also available for selection at this stage, while Warriors utility Lance Hohaia is expected to have recovered from a minor knee operation he underwent on Monday.

Source: SMH

 

[PARANoIR]

The Bulldogs better not let him go, he gets paid too bloody much to go out and f**k himself again.

 

[DIEHARD]

The Bulldogs better not let him go, he gets paid too bloody much to go out and f**k himself again.

Thanks for coming! Next please!

 

[ozboy]

If the kid has a chance of incurring an arthritic knee, it would be common sense not to allow him to tour at the end of the year, especially when you consider he has only played about two games this anyway.

As for Benji Marshall, for another kid so young to have had already a string of serious shoulder injuries, it would also be smart for him to maybe have an off-season this year to have surgery if need be and recover and rest for the season's ahead.

People have to remember these players are only kids, and we do not want them retiring at 25 years of age due to a build up of serious injuries.

 

[screeny]

When I read the new yesterday I immediately watched a video of SBW in action, v GB in thier first Tri Nations match last year. On his first hit up he glides past the defender and then later in the half puts on a shimmy and shake to put himself between two defenders and in position to offload to support, which leads to Lautiiti's try. Sublime talent and alongside Benji one of the two players I think is the most pleasing to watch in RL.

Poor lad. Poor NZ. Poor Tri Nations.

 

[League Freak™]

[Waits for the Kiwi's to whinge]

 

[carlnz]

Man i was crying in laughter when i read this:

Pointing out that the Bulldogs also have concerns about injuries to Matt Utai, Roy Asotasi and Jamaal Lolesi,

Sounds like all the Kiwi players have injuries in the Bulldogs team...this is why the Kiwis will never have a full strength team..pitty really, Tri Nations has already lost one team that will struggle to win a game like last year.

This is why the World Cup needs to be in March or NZ will never have a chance...

 

[AuckMel]

There's plenty of players in the Bartercard Cup.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Gee the Bulldogs got there monies worth this year didn't they

Somethings got to be done to help the Kiwi's get there best team on the park.

Fair enough if the players are injured, nothing you can do about bad luck, but the Kiwis seem to have more bad luck than all the others put together.

Doesn't look good for NZRL, we all know they have the talent to beat the Roo's, but they never will while Clubs run everything.

It's a damn sham.

 

[griff]

"whinging" or not, Sonny Bill not being in the Tri-Nations is a big loss for Rugby League.

The standard NRL player contract has something in it about making yourself available for representative matches, so there must be some way of enforcing that provision now. It shouldn't be left up to the clubs to decide. They often do it to NZ players because they know they can get away with it.

 

[aussies1st]

Here we go with the same agrument as was with Benji but now with SBW.

 

[screeny]

I've said it before, unless the ARL consents to independent doctor deciding on injuries the NZRL should refuse to play. The independent doctor more often than not would concur with the club doctor I'm sure but the controversy would be removed.

 

[Sun_Down]

I agree Screeny..an independent doc is needed....it just seems funny, that there is alway injuries just befoer the TriNations...and theyre always Kiwis...*sigh*

 

[League Freak™]

"Independent doctor"

Name me a doctor who would give advice to a player that goes against what is in the best interests of their short and long term health.



To suggest that a professional would lie to another professional to stop a player from taking part in a footy game is just ridiculous.


Then again.....it does end with the NZRL coming out with farcicle acusations and quotes from a doctor that has never examined the said players but who is willing to give them a clean bill of health.

 

[carlnz]

In April, second-rower Galuvao fronted for Penrith 24 hours after the Anzac test, which he was deemed too injured to play in.

Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad is expected to advise that Williams, Utai, Roy Asotasi and Jamaal Lolesi may be out.

"Then you get on top of that Benji Marshall from the Tigers, and the Roosters are now telling us Jason Cayless needs to have an operation on his ankle and will be out – that one's come out of nowhere," Bennett said.

Hmmm waste of time playing the Kiwis..

Hence why Australia will never be a team taken notice of because they only beat under strength teams..bit deal..Australia wins the 2005 Tri Nations after beating NZ A and GB...Gee they are such world champions Oh well at least we get to see another 4 or 5 young guns a chance at playing for the Kiwis...and good on them....then after being established test player their asking price will go up and they will move to England...

 

[carlnz]

I agree Screeny..an independent doc is needed....it just seems funny, that there is alway injuries just befoer the TriNations...and theyre always Kiwis...*sigh*

NO its funny that they are saying they are injured and cant play for their country when most of them are currently playing NRL now...yeah we dont want to risk this young kids career but he is ok to keep playing in the finals of the NRL

"Double Standards"

 

[ozboy]

How f****** stupid is this bloke.

and the Roosters are now telling us Jason Cayless needs to have an operation on his ankle and will be out – that one's come out of nowhere," Bennett said.

Well Selwyn, if you actually knew anything about the game, you would know that Jason Cayless has played about 1 game in the last 6 weeks, and has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Come out of nowhere, my a** !