Injured Dolphins ready to rock Wayne’s world: Nicholls
Joel Gould |
The Dolphins have been hit with further bad news on the injury front with representative forward Felise Kaufusi set for an extended stint on the sidelines with a knee issue.
The club on Tuesday confirmed their worst fears for winger Jack Bostock with scans revealing a ruptured ACL suffered in the 26-20 loss to Newcastle in Perth.
Bostock is set for a nine-month recovery.
Kaufusi was suspended for two weeks for a high shot in the 58-4 win over North Queensland a fortnight ago but also picked up a medial cruciate ligament (MCL) injury that will sideline him until round 22.
The Dolphins are set to welcome form prop Josh Kerr back from a hamstring twinge at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday against South Sydney, coached by their founding mentor Wayne Bennett.
Souths are second last on 14 points with the Dolphins in ninth on 16.
Veteran prop Mark Nicholls was a late bloomer whose career kicked off at the Rabbitohs under Bennett. He has made the mastercoach smile on plenty of occasions after whole-hearted efforts, but that’s not the intention on Saturday.
“He doesn’t smile much in the box but hopefully we can keep him frowning the whole game,” Nicholls said.
“Wayne will have them as the underdog and set to come to Suncorp to ambush us but we are the same. We have got some adversity to overcome.
” We play a similar style to when Wayne was here. Wayne’s teams are high completion teams and look to grind you out,” added Nicholls.
“The way we lost on the weekend I think they will be confident that (grinding) style will beat us but we are going to enjoy that part of the game as well. Both teams really need the two points.
“Without Wayne and my wife I don’t think I’d have become the first grader that I have. My career was at the crossroads when I went to Souths and Wayne was a big part of turning that around for me. Playing the old club, I think any player would say that you want to win.”
Bostock has joined Thomas Flegler (shoulder), Max Plath (knee), Tom Gilbert (pec and shoulder) and Daniel Saifiti (shoulder) on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
“We’ve had a lot of long-term injuries particularly in the forwards but you can’t look at what’s not there,” Nicholls said.
“You have to deal with it and put our best foot forward. We have got a lot of confidence in the guys coming up. Aublix (Tawha) is a perfect example of a guy who was 18th or 19th man for four or five weeks and finally got his chance on the weekend and went well for us.
“Hopefully Kerr is back for us this weekend and he has been really good for us off the bench. He brings a lot of impact, runs the ball hard and can create stuff with his offloads that a lot of players can’t.”
AAP
