Positive timeline for ‘lucky’ Dragon’s injury return

Jasper Bruce |

The Dragons have been encouraged by Loko Pasifiki Tonga’s recovery from a neck injury.
The Dragons have been encouraged by Loko Pasifiki Tonga’s recovery from a neck injury.

Shane Flanagan expects Loko Pasifiki Tonga will return to playing only a couple of weeks after being rushed to hospital following a scary training incident.

The St George Illawarra forward was stretchered into an ambulance after hurting his neck in a tackle at Thursday’s field session, but was later cleared of serious injury.

Pasifiki Tonga is unlikely to play reserve grade against Parramatta on Sunday as originally planned, yet coach Flanagan has been buoyed by his progress thus far.

“He’s fine, he’s back doing some rehab running today. He’s a bit sore but he’ll be OK. We’ll just reassess him next week,” he said.

“We’re lucky that there’s no damage and he’ll be right in the next week or two.”

Shane Flanagan.
Shane Flanagan is into his third season as Dragons coach after eight campaigns with Cronulla. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)

One of the Dragons’ best players last year, back-up hooker Jacob Liddle returns from a hamstring issue to face the Eels for his first game of the NRL season.

“Jacob will bring some energy, I don’t expect him to play huge minutes tomorrow,” Flanagan said.

“It was a pretty nasty injury but he’s well and truly over that.”

The Red V are winless through two rounds, but took Canterbury to extra time in Las Vegas and led reigning runners-up Melbourne after an hour last week.

Flanagan wants the Dragons to take advantage of their opportunities at CommBank Stadium this weekend.

“The way the game’s going, you need to be able to control possession and have blocks of possession and do well in that period,” he said.

“We didn’t do well in that period (against Melbourne). We had eight errors in yardage and you just can’t do that.”

Kelma Tuilagi.
The Eels were thrashed by the Storm in round one but bounced back against the Broncos a week later. (AAP PHOTOS)

Parramatta snapped a four-game losing streak and scored their first win of the Jason Ryles era in the corresponding fixture against the Dragons last April.

The Eels have improved since that golden-point victory, entering Sunday’s game on the back of a win over reigning premiers Brisbane.

“We’re a lot more connected as a group and we’re very clear on our roles within the team,” said hooker Ryley Smith.

“If we go out there on Sunday, and for the rest of the season, and just nail our role then I think we’ll win a lot more games than lose.”

AAP