NRL 2024: Tino Fa’asuamaleaui ruled out for the season with ACL injury - what it means for Titans, Maroons
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui’s season-ending ACL injury has left gaping holes in two football teams - the Titans and Maroons. PAM WHALEY reveals who is in line to replace the inspirational leader.
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Gold Coast and Queensland Maroons will be forced to look elsewhere to find dominance up front with confirmation Tino Fa’asuamaleaui will miss the rest of the NRL season with an ACL injury.
On Sunday scans confirmed the 24-year-old Maroons and Titans star suffered a ruptured ACL in Saturday’s 32-0 loss to the Bulldogs at Belmore Oval.
It has compounded the devastation for the Titans, who are now winless after their first two games of the season and have only scored four points in what was supposed to be a bright new era with Des Hasler.
The skipper played only 35 minutes against the Bulldogs on Saturday, and was injured just 10 minutes into his second stint on the field when his leg was caught awkwardly in a tackle while carrying the ball.
He will now work with club doctors to determine the course of recovery.
IMPACT ON THE TITANS
Fa’asuamaleaui is the club’s best and highest paid player, and his loss for the rest of the season comes as an almighty blow to the Titans hopes in 2024.
The news has automatically plunged the Titans into early conversations for the wooden spoon after a horrid start to the season against the Dragons and Bulldogs.
“I had my fingers crossed thinking it was a medial, but it’s a massive blow,” Titans ambassador Gorden Tallis told Triple M.
Such is Fa’asuamaleaui’s influence.
The inspirational prop is super consistent, last season averaging 152 metres and 30 tackles per game, and that workload will need to be taken up by the rest of the Titans pack.
Reinforcements arrive soon, but it’s not the lineup the Titans hoped for to kick off life under Hasler.
Star second-rower David Fifita is nearing a return to the field over the next fortnight after undergoing surgery for a partial pec tear he suffered in December.
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has reportedly ruptured his ACL (via @abcsport). Another huge injury blow early in the NRL season.
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) March 24, 2024
Reconstruction surgery & ~9 month rehabilitation aheas - wish Tino the best with surgery & recovery process. pic.twitter.com/pMkyFTsQ2q
Interchange forwards Keenan Palasia, Jamin Jolliffe and Isaac Liu are all options to move into the front row alongside Maroons prop Moe Fotuaika, while teenage rookie Josiah Pahulu will make his NRL debut at some point this season.
He was the most impressive youngster across the pre-season.
Fa’asuamaleaui’s injury has added another layer to the club’s already horrendous attack across their first two games, outscored 60-4 against the Dragons and Bulldogs.
Help is on the way there too after fullback Jayden Campbell made a return to the field with Tweed Seagulls in a 38-12 loss to Burleigh Bears over the weekend.
The 24-year-old has been sidelined with a dislocated patella and needed just to prove his fitness in reserve grade to claim his place at fullback against the Dolphins with the NRL side on Saturday night.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR MAROONS
It’s a hammer blow to the Maroons with selections for the first game of the series just two months away.
Fa’asuamaleaui has been a ferocious member of the Maroons pack for the past 12 games and instrumental in the past two series victories over NSW at both prop and lock.
His cruel ACL injury is the second to impact the Maroons in the first few weeks of the season with Dolphins prop Tom Gilbert also out for the rest of the season.
Fa’asuamaleaui started in all three games last year and churned out 300 metres for the series alongside Cowboys gun and player of the series Reuben Cotter in the front row.
Queensland coach Billy Slater could be forced to look to Sydney Roosters enforcer Lindsay Collins to churn through the work up front, while Raiders firebrand Corey Horsburgh is also an option.
Rookies Beau Fermor (Titans), Heilum Luki (Cowboys) and J’maine Hopgood (Eels) were also named in his 34-man squad for a pre-season camp last month indicating they’re on the radar for game one at Accor Stadium on June 5.
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