Taia Update

[RHCP]

I'm going to be hugely disappointed if Zeb misses out on the chance to play under Wayne Bennett with the rest of the boys. Whenever the going has got tough, Zeb's got going. Whenever we're in trouble he's always putting in (Canberra last year) and with the tuition of Benny he could become even stronger.

Fingers crossed it's a 4-6 weeker and not a season/career ender.

 

[Alex28]

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/lo...e/taia-to-explore-surgery-option/2134759.aspx

Taia to explore surgery option
BY ROBERT DILLON

15 Apr, 2011 04:00 AM

KNIGHTS forward Zeb Taia is considering visiting the same neck specialist whose surgery saved the career of Melbourne Storm winger Anthony Quinn.
Taia has not played since he was injured in Newcastle’s loss to St George Illawarra 12days ago.

He was diagnosed with a bulging disc.

The Kiwi international, who has been a workhorse in Newcastle’s back row since arriving from Parramatta in 2007, has consulted one spinal surgeon and is expected to obtain opinions from at least two others.

Knights coach Rick Stone has been reluctant to speculate about the severity of the injury until all medical avenues have been explored.

In some instances, bulging discs repair themselves.

Other players need season-ending operations and in extreme cases, retirement is advised, as happened to Andrew Johns in 2007.

‘‘We’ll be taking him to a specialist [Dr Noel Dan] at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and probably getting another second opinion from a specialist on the Gold Coast who actually did some work on Anthony Quinn,’’ Stone said.

‘‘[Knights doctor] Neil Halpin is keen for Zeb to get as much information as possible to give him some options.’’

Quinn, the former Knights winger who joined Melbourne in 2007, needed a rare double-disc replacement in his neck midway through the 2009 season but was back for the opening round last year.

At one stage when he was seeking medical advice, the NSW Origin representative was told to retire before Gold Coast surgeon Matthew Scott-Young inserted two artificial discs at the C5-6 and C6-7 level of his neck to replace the compressed, calcified bones and ease pressure on damaged nerves.

‘‘I was told about it [retirement] once and I was pretty shocked at that. They said you might have to,’’ Quinn said in an interview two months ago.

‘‘I think when I heard it, I only thought about it for that day and that was it, because we did a bit of research and luckily enough the doctors and the surgeons and all the medical treatment has advanced so far in the last couple of years that ... I don’t think a few injuries each year is enough to stop me from playing.’’

Quinn described Scott-Young as ‘‘the Michelangelo of disc replacement’’. He said if the technology had been available in 2007, Johns might not have had to retire.

Season ending then?

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Sounds to me still nothing definative.

 

[Hooch]

If they're taking him up to see Scott-Young and considering disc replacement the injury is very probably chronic and he's probably been carrying it.

 

[K-Man]

Saw in an Injuries Update section yesterday (can't remember which Sydney paper now, was reading both) that Zeb was listed as "Neck, return Round 9", and Rogers was still "indefinite".

Do they know something we haven't or heard or just an error? Surely if it had gone from career threatening to back in a week we would've heard about it?

 

[Hooch]

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-league/taia-fights-to-save-career/2142385.aspx

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...mates-reunited-down-south-20110429-1e0im.html

It is a chronic injury. Sounds like he will elect for disc replacement. Fusion would end his contract in all likelihood and chance of return is lower. Guys who go the fusion do it for quality of life or emergency surgery, it's not a surgery for overcoming a sports injury. Guys like Ben Ross and PJ Marsh.. same injury ended Tallis and Johns career. Quinn had a double neck disc replacement and is back. Sounds like Zeb will go the same path.

I don't think they'll risk playing him again if he's breaking down in matches.

The same issue, but in lower back, ended PJ Marsh's career a couple of years back. He had a lumbar disc replacement, but that sort of surgery is career ending.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I know it's sad but is it just me or the second you hear about vertabrates and such needing to be replaced that you wish the player would just retire....... I'd imagine even if they make a come back a lot of them they'd experience a lot of discomfort later in life and the risk of serious injury...... Probably just being a glass half empty type attitude on my part I guess.

 

[RABK]

Tallis was 60% the player he was after returning from neck surgery. Still a great player but not the most dominant forward in the world any longer.

Taia is not half of what Tallis was. I won't doubt Taia's ability to get back on the field i do doubt his standard of play once he is back.

I suppose the injury itself explains his sharp drop in form over the last year.

As a Zeb fan i've sent him a msg of support and his wellbeing is all of our priority. No one has emmerged from serious neck surgery the same player they were before so the odds are against Zeb ever been our regular rep quality 11 again.

 

[Pumba]

Zeb sets sights on miracle return
BY BRETT KEEBLE
10 May, 2011 04:00 AM

ONE month after being told he would never play again, Newcastle’s Kiwi international Zeb Taia has targeted a return to rugby league before the end of this season.

Taia flew to the Gold Coast yesterday to prepare for double-disc replacement surgery on his neck later this week, which he said would enable him to be back on the field in three months.

The 26-year-old Knights workhorse will have his damaged C5-6 and C6-7 discs replaced with cobalt-chrome alloy and polyethylene substitutes.

Taia said surgeon Matthew Scott-Young, who performed the same procedure on former Knights winger Anthony Quinn and retired dual international Mat Rogers, will conduct the operation on Thursday or Saturday.

‘‘I would have been happy if he said he could fix this problem and I’d be back in six months and I could be right to come back next year, but for him to say I can be back in three months, it was the best news ever, because now I can be back before the end of this season,’’ Taia said.

If the surgery is done on Saturday, Taia could potentially be back in time for Newcastle’s game against the Warriors in Auckland in round 23 on the weekend of August 12-15.

Taia still finds that difficult to comprehend, as he was advised to retire last month after being diagnosed with a bulging disc that was pressing against his spinal cord.

That devastating news was delivered after he aggravated the condition making a tackle early in Newcastle’s 20-18 loss to the Dragons at Ausgrid Stadium on April 3, then underwent a series of tests and scans.

The bleak forecast prompted him to seek further opinions, and Sydney neurosurgeons Noel Dan and William Sears provided a glimmer of hope late last month when they suggested disc-replacement surgery as an option to allow him to continue playing.

Taia took their advice and saw Dr Scott-Young on the Gold Coast last Friday.

‘‘I went up last Thursday and had some tests done – an EMG [electromyography] and some more X- rays and CT scans – then I saw him the next day and it was nothing but awesome,’’ Taia said.

‘‘He said I’m a good candidate for the surgery.

‘‘At the C5-6 level, it’s already gone and it’s pushing on to my spinal cord, but the one below it [C6-7] is going to keep going if he doesn’t repair it as well, so he’s going to replace both.

‘‘I’ve got another appointment with him [today].

‘‘He knows I’m keen to get back on the field as soon as possible, and he told me I should be able to play football again in three months.

‘I was happy just to hear that I could play again, but for him to tell me that I’m going to be back this year, that was awesome, and I just said let’s get it done straight away.’’

The Herald

 

[aqua_duck]

Awesome news, I can see Zeb growing another leg under Bennett next year

 

[Johns Magic]

Yep, praying this surgery doesn't limit him long-term.

 

[The Joker]

Awesome news, I can see Zeb growing another leg under Bennett next year

Was about to say the exact same thing. Taia would be one player that would excel tenfold under Bennett

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I hope the surgeon knows what he is doing. I guess I can see how a winger or 5/8/centre can play after this surgery, but a forward on the other hand...

 

[Rolla]

After thinking it was curtains for Zeb, this news is like signing a gun backrower!!

Of course there are questions of how successful he can be but either way this is good news