Walters injures ACL as Broncos cavalry rides back
Joel Gould |
Brisbane have been rocked by an ACL injury to five-eighth Billy Walters on the cusp of the preliminary final.
Walters has been a star of the past five wins in his new role, including Sunday’s 29-28 golden-point win over Canberra.
The Broncos told AAP the injury is not a full rupture and they will aim initially to rehabilitate the knee without surgery.
“Walters will work with the club’s medical team to assess the next steps in his recovery,” the Broncos said in a statement.
The chances of the 31-year-old playing in a fortnight appear bleak, but former Broncos prop Matt Lodge played with a partially torn ACL while at the club.
Fortunately for the Broncos the injured cavalry are back on the horse and have trained the house down at Brisbane HQ to give coach Michael Maguire a pleasurable selection headache.
Captain Adam Reynolds, five-eighth Ezra Mam and outside back Selwyn Cobbo, known as “The Three Hamstring Amigos”, all moved with vim and vigour on Monday morning and had punched out an intense session by 8am.
All three were injured in the round-23 loss to Melbourne.
Prop Xavier Willison also trained before having a scheduled scan on the broken right forearm that has kept him out of action since round 22. He has been cleared to return.
Willison was followed on the paddock by back-rower Jack Gosiewski, on his way back from a broken collarbone sustained in round 24.
All five are in the mix to be potentially available for the preliminary final in a fortnight.
Such has been Cobbo’s progress that the Broncos are mulling over whether to play him for Wynnum Manly in the Queensland Cup preliminary final against the North Devils this weekend.
Mam was working up a sweat and singing along to “You to Me Are Everything” by soul band The Real Thing as it blared out of the Brisbane gym. Spirits were high, as they are when you win through to a grand final qualifier.
Maguire faces a delicate balancing act with his spine. The quartet of Reece Walsh, Walters, Ben Hunt and Cory Paix have won five from five since Reynolds and Mam were injured.
The skipper is almost certain to come back into the team at halfback, which will shift Hunt to hooker if Mam also returns.
Maguire was cautious after the stunning 29-28 golden-point win over Canberra when asked about a return date for Reynolds and the injured brigade.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“(Reynolds) is travelling well, and then you have to adjudicate how much players have been playing and the momentum of the side.
“I will look at the game and how we are moving and doing things. The boys are doing a good job, so it’s a nice place to be as a coach, to have decisions, and I will make them moving forward.”
Late on Monday morning, Brisbane were weighing up whether to challenge a dangerous-contact charge against star lock Pat Carrigan after his hit on Raiders forward Morgan Smithies.
Carrigan will miss a week if he accepts an early guilty plea, but faces being potentially rubbed out of the grand final if the Broncos challenge and lose at the judiciary.
Brisbane’s brains trust were watching vision of the collision and comparing it with videos from the NRL library of similar incidents.
The club has until noon on Tuesday to notify the NRL.
If Carrigan is rubbed out, the potential return of Willison would be a godsend.
Willison has done some controlled contact at training, but not as much reactive contact, where there is more risk.
The Broncos will determine if there has been sufficient healing in his arm and assess his training progress before playing him.
Second-rower Brendan Piakura is set for scans on a suspected facial fracture suffered against the Raiders, while prop Payne Haas was cleared of any ankle damage after battling through against Canberra.
AAP
