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Bulldogs awaiting Thurston's arrival
By Stuart Honeysett and Margie McDonald
May 17, 2004
THE BULLDOGS are confident five-eighth Johnathan Thurston will return to training today, despite speculation he could become the latest player to walk away from the game.
Thurston, who injured his knee against Manly in round five, was given permission by coach Steve Folkes last week to go home to visit his family in Queensland.
There were reports yesterday Thurston had been affected by the recent rape allegations against the club and was considering following the lead of former Eels centre, Jamie Lyon, and quitting.
Folkes spoke to Thurston before he left Sydney for Queensland and said, as far as he was concerned, the 21-year-old would return today.
"I spoke to him once before he went and he was fine," Folkes said.
"His family lives in Queensland, so he was just looking for a bit of time with them. He can't do much training anyway, so it was a good opportunity for him to go home and spend a bit of time with them."
Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad said he would be surprised if Thurston wasn't at training today.
"He hasn't expressed that, as far as I know, and Steve had a number of conversations with him last week," Noad said.
"As far as we're concerned, we gave him time off to spend some time with his family. The last conversation Steve had with him, he was very happy and on a flight back today."
Brisbane were knocked by the loss of a second player for the season, within the same week, with the news that Barry Berrigan will have surgery on his neck on Thursday.
"He's going to put this season behind him and look forward to next year," said younger brother Shaun, who is battling a hamstring injury in a bid to be fit for State of Origin I.
Berrigan's operation will be similar to that of Gorden Tallis in early 2001, when he also had a disc problem that needed surgery to strengthen the vertebrae protecting the spinal cord in that part of his neck.
Tallis missed most of 2001, but resumed playing club and representative football, and Shaun said his brother was taking the same approach.
"He's pretty devastated and upset," Shaun said.
"But Barry is also a positive person and I think he's just relieved that they found out what's wrong with his neck because it's been playing up on him for a couple of weeks now. If he had kept playing, he could have ended up in a wheelchair."
The Broncos lost halfback Brett Seymour for the season last Monday with knee damage.
Shaun said Barry, 29 next month, hoped to be back well before the 2005 pre-season, once surgeons give him the all-clear.
The Broncos have a bye this weekend and will not train again until Thursday.
Newcastle, still celebrating their first golden point win after Friday night's heart-stopping 17-16 win at Suncorp, have two players undergoing MRI scans on hamstrings this morning - lock Ben Kennedy and fullback Mark Hughes.
Kennedy's result will interest NSW selectors, who meet this morning to choose a 17-man squad for Origin I on May 26.
Hughes was hurt while trying to stop the Broncos' first try last Friday night.
It was only Hughes' second game back after missing the last games of 2003 with a neck injury and then having shoulder and knee surgery in the off-season.
The Australian
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http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,9582082-23214,00.html
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