NRL fans roast Elliott Whitehead’s gruesome injury

Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead suffered a brutal injury against the Storm on Saturday night — and played on for the rest of the game.

Whitehead’s injury is enough to make you squirm.

If fans needed any more evidence that Elliott Whitehead is one of the NRL’s toughest forwards, they got it on Saturday night.

His side down 12-10 early in the second half, the Raiders captain emerged from a tackle clutching his left hand and hunching over.

With Canbera on the attack, he signalled to the bench and gestured to his hand. Cameras then revealed the gruesome extent of the Englishman’s injury: a dislocated finger bent at an alarming angle.

He remained behind the offensive line for the remainder of the set in clear discomfort.

“That’s a magic trick,” Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane said of the injury.

Raiders trainers attended to Whitehead on the field, putting his maligned digit back into place and allowing him to play on for the remainder of the game.

Fans roasted Whitehead on Twitter, clearly seeing the funny side of the star’s brutal injury.

When the bouncer at Mooseheads asks how many drinks you’ve had tonight. #NRLRaidersStormpic.twitter.com/8a27a7lL2o

— Matt Baseley (@MattBaseley) May 22, 2021

Elliott Whitehead showing off some Northern England gang signs #NRLRaidersStormpic.twitter.com/6OxJm8aESb

— Gene Irvine (@geneirvine12) May 22, 2021

If I'm Elliot Whitehead, you'll need the smelling salts to revive me #NRLRaidersStorm

— Wal G (@Gisikus) May 22, 2021

Whitehead doing a flick pass 10 minutes after dislocating a finger is the confidence we all need #nrl#NRLRaidersStorm#UpTheMilk

— Mike Tran (@mjtran) May 22, 2021

Elliot Whitehead the king of pointing around corners #NRLRaidersStormpic.twitter.com/e8XxzSIrjW

— Cuntweasel (@clubfoot25) May 22, 2021

They were missing their entire spine, but no one can ever accuse Melbourne of having no backbone.

Despite being without Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant, the Storm were still able to re-write history in Saturday’s dominant 34-10 win over Canberra.

Melbourne was also missing Kenneath Bromwich, while the Raiders were without most of their big names, including Jack Wighton, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson and Jarrod Croker.

The lack of star power at GIO Stadium reduced what would’ve been pencilled in as a top-four clash at the start of the season into a desperate battle between back-up players.

But it mattered little to the defending premiers, who became the first team in premiership history to win eight straight games by at least 13 points, and consolidate their top-three spot.

They did it despite giving the home side a 10-point head start, keeping Canberra scoreless over the final 66 minutes to consign the Raiders to their sixth defeat in seven games.

Ricky Stuart, who was also without Joseph Tapine and Jordan Rapana, simply didn’t have enough firepower to withstand the Storm assault.

Second-choice hooker Brandon Smith played chief orchestrator, setting up three of his team’s five tries, including two for Nelson Asofa-Solomona, to pull Canberra’s middle defence apart.

“I saw the halves kept playing pretty bad with the ball,” Smith said on Fox Sports.

“So I decided to shave my two ears off and listen to the two ruckies and play through the middle. I thought we did that well and off the back of that we were able to play with some ruck speed.”

Understudy fullback Nicho Hynes continued his hot run of form with another scintillating display, leading both teams in run metres (182) and tackle breaks (11) to go with his own try assist.

Melbourne stormed home in the second half (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Melbourne weather storm

Canberra treated Melbourne to a traditionally frosty welcoming by icing an opportunity inside 72 seconds, with a Sam Williams bomb being allowed to bounce by the Storm left edge.

It was sent back to the hands of George Williams, who then reacted quickly and picked out Bailey Simonsson on the opposite wing with a neat kick for the perfect start.

An Elliott Whitehead four-pointer made it a two-try lead, despite the home side being on the wrong end of a 27-4 count of plays inside the opposition half inside the opening 24 minutes.

However despite being behind for most of the first half, it took Melbourne just six minutes to seize momentum and take a two-point halftime lead.

With Smith wreaking havoc through the middle of the field, the nuggety hooker put Asofa-Solomona over for his first, and Chris Lewis soon after, at close range with well-timed passes.

Storm pour on points

Smith sent Asofa-Solomona across soon into the resumption to kickstart a comprehensive second half that rendered the Raiders defence powerless.

Tom Eisenhuth, Reimis Smith and Trent Loeiro also touched down to complete the six-try rout, which has left their juggernaut of an attack averaging over 40 points during their winning run.

They have outscored their opponents an absurd 322-90 in that span, ensuring they remain hot on the heels of undefeated ladder leaders Penrith, and second-placed Parramatta.

The Raiders had just four plays inside the opposition 20-metre zone in the second half.

Reportable incidents

It didn’t quite match the high drama at the SCG earlier in the night, but the league’s crackdown on high tackles continued with two players put on report.

Canberra hitman Corey Horsburgh was cited for clipping the chin of Asofa-Solomona in the first half, while Melbourne utility Chris Lewis caught George Williams high after the break.

Originally published as NRL fans roast Elliott Whitehead’s gruesome injury