Haze Dunster injury: Shock love twist in NRL injury drama
Haze Dunster says he has “nothing but love” for Tyrell Fuimaono despite the St George Illawarra backrower’s horror tackle which ended his season. Read what he said here.
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Injured Parramatta player Haze Dunster has “nothing but love” for his girlfriend’s brother Tyrell Fuimaono despite the sickening tackle which ended his season.
Dunster has spoken out in support of Fuimaono who has been suspended for five games for his hip drop tackle which left Dunster with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, medial cruciate ligament and posterior cruciate ligament.
Dunster and Fuimaono’s sister Taliah - who plays for St George Illawarra’s NRLW team have dated for the past six years.
“There’s no bad blood at all between Tyrell and I,” Dunster posted on his Instagram. “I have nothing but love for him.
“(It) wasn’t like that was his intention to do that. (It) just happened real fast in the moment and (it) could’ve been anyone...just happened to be me.”
Dunster said the support he had received was playing “a big part in this road to recovery.”
EARLIER: SHOCK LOVE TWIST IN NRL INJURY DRAMA
The sickening Tyrell Fuimaono tackle on Haze Dunster has taken a twist with revelations Dunster is in a six-year relationship with Fuimaono’s sister Taliah — herself a rugby league star.
The pair were spotted eating together in Sydney’s northwest on Monday, just after it was revealed that Parramatta winger Dunster would miss the entire 2022 NRL season after suffering a catastrophic knee injury.
Dunster has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, medial crucial ligament and posterior cruciate ligament following a hip drop tackle that has St George Illawarra forward Fuimaono facing a monster seven-match ban following Sunday’s trial match between the Eels and Dragons.
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Taliah, a five-eighth, is contracted to the Dragons and is expected to start in the halves for their NRLW opener against the Gold Coast this Sunday.
According to her Facebook profile, she and Dunster have been dating since April 2015, with the loved-up couple sharing a host of pictures together on their social media profiles.
Their snaps include a trip to New Zealand together in 2020 and a wedding earlier this month. Dunster and St George Illawarra backrower Fuimaono are also Instagram and Facebook friends.
Dunster took to Instagram on Monday afternoon, shortly after the injury news was confirmed.
“Uhh there it is! Really appreciate all the support and messages,” he wrote.
“Shattered that 22 started off like this but it is what it is. Time to take on this new obstacle and be back ready for 23.”
Fuimaoano, who was sin-binned for the tackle, could miss seven matches, but will serve a five-game suspension if he takes the early guilty plea after being whacked with a grade three charge.
Fuimaoano showed immediate concern for Dunster after making the tackle.
The Fuimaonos played in the recent Indigenous All Stars match. If, as expected, Taliah plays against the Titans on Sunday, the pair will become the first brother-sister combination to play in the NRL/NRLW at the same time.
She overcame her own ACL injury to get her career back on track.
The Eels confirmed the terrible injury diagnosis on Monday morning.
“Haze Dunster has been ruled out for the 2022 season following confirmation he has sustained ruptures to his anterior, medial and posterior ligaments (ACL, MCL and PCL) in his knee during last night’s trial,” the Eels said in a statement.
“Haze will undergo surgery in the coming days and then will begin an extended rehabilitation period.
“The Parramatta Eels are fully supporting Haze in his efforts to returning to the field in 2023.”
It was a sour point to the teams’ opening trial match of the season, which the Dragons won 26-22 after trailing 16-0.
Fuimaono was suspended for a week for a similar tackle on former Souths centre Dane Gagai last season.
He also served a five-match ban for a high shot on Ryan Papenhuyzen that kept the Melbourne fullback out of the game for a prolonged period due to concussion-related issues.
Dunster was in line for a starting berth on the Eels’ wing, following the departure of Blake Ferguson and the recovery from a knee injury to Maika Sivo, which will keep him out for up to the first three months of the season.
New recruit Bailey Simonsson is expected to fill one place on the wing, while Eels local junior Sean Russell is now in line to start the season on the other flank.
Russell, Matthew Komolafe and Solomone Naiduki all spent time on the wings against the Dragons and all showed flashes of promise.
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EELS SELECTION DILEMMA LOOMS FOR ARTHUR
By Jasper Bruce
Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur has been left with a selection dilemma on his hands after winger Haze Dunster suffered a serious knee injury in the 22-26 NRL trial loss to the St George Illawarra Dragons on Sunday.
Dunster looked a strong chance to start on the wing this year, especially with crowd favourite Maika Sivo injured until mid-season.
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New recruit Bailey Simonsson looks certain to start on one wing for Parramatta but there’ll now be another vacancy for Arthur to fill.
Matthew Komolafe, Sean Russell and Solomone Naiduki — who have two games of first grade experience between them — all spent time on the wings against the Dragons and all showed flashes of promise.
Komolafe broke down the right side and helped Parramatta back onto the attack in the second half and it was Russell who set the crucial line-break up.
Naiduki cashed in on the momentum and had Parramatta’s fourth try just minutes later and would’ve had another had he grounded the ball properly.
For his tackle on Dunster, Fuimaono could also find himself unavailable for selection in round one.
The fiery Dragon has prior loading — he became the unwitting poster boy for the NRL’s crackdown on illegal contact with his hit on Ryan Papenhuyzen in Magic Round last year.
Ryan Matterson and Tautau Moga were also sin-binned so could come under scrutiny from the match review committee as well.
The Dragons weren’t without their injury problems either — centre Max Feagai needed assistance leaving the field after an awkward tackle but was already at long odds to start in the 17 for round one.
Haze Dunster off with nasty looking left knee injury. Main concern for MCL injury (several weeks recovery) with tackler coming down on outside of knee, unfortunately the traumatic nature of the tackle also brings risk to the ACL (several months). Fingers crossed for him pic.twitter.com/ACXZXWwdBM
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) February 20, 2022
MISSING
Plenty of regular first-graders missed Sunday’s outing.
For the Eels, Clint Gutherson, Mitch Moses, Junior Paulo, Dylan Brown, Nathan Brown and Reagan Campbell-Gillard all rode the pine.
Ben Hunt, Jack Bird, Jack de Belin, Mikaele Ravalawa and Zac Lomax were among the Dragons watching from the sidelines.
Arthur and Dragons coach Anthony Griffin confirmed all fit players who missed Sunday night’s game would line up in the second week of trials.
BURGESS KEPT QUIET
Playing for the first time since major hip surgery and for the first time in an NRL fixture since 2019, Dragons recruit George Burgess had a modest outing off the bench.
The former Rabbitoh came on midway through the first half and was back on the bench within 10 minutes of the restart, with 55 run metres, 26 post contact metres, seven runs and five tackles to his name.
“I was happy he got through tonight,” said Griffin. “He’ll get some more time next week.”
Competition for spots in the Dragons pack will be fierce — along with Burgess, the club has replenished its forward stocks with the likes of Francis Molo, Jaydn Su’A, Aaron Woods and Jack Gosiewski, all of whom will rate themselves chances to lock down regular spots in the 17.
SHOW ME THE MAHONEY
The only member of the Eels’ first-choice spine to feature on Sunday, Reed Mahoney, reiterated just how important he will be to Parramatta’s premiership push in his first game back from the injury that cut his 2021 cruelly short.
Mahoney headlines the list of pending departures from Parramatta that have led critics to speculate 2022 is the last season the Eels can taste premiership glory before a roster overhaul.
The club has rejected such claims but either way, there is no denying the Eels will need Mahoney at his best if 2022 is the year to break the highly-publicised premiership drought.
With him on the park, the Eels enjoyed early dominance over the Dragons, who completed just five sets by the 25th minute mark and were staring down a 16-0 deficit.
“It was a shocker,” said Griffin. “I was a bit disappointed in some of our senior guys, actually, early, they just went out and played like it was a trial. Parramatta ticked the scoreboard over really quick.”
After Mahoney went off and new recruit Mitch Rein took on hooking duties, the joint venture managed to pull back the momentum and draw level at the break.
Mahoney was rested for the remainder of the contest, which was never again as one-sided.
SHAUN THE SKIP
He’s no danger of usurping Clint Gutherson and Junior Paulo as skipper but the captaincy sure looked good on Shaun Lane.
Inside the opening three minutes of his first game captaining the club, Lane burst through a hole on Parramatta’s left edge.
On the next play, as the Dragons scrambled back, he sent a quick pass to set up former Warrior Hayze Perham — filling in for Gutherson at fullback — for the first try.
When Fuimaono was binned for his hip drop, the Eels went back to exploit the same side of the field and it was once again Lane who sent the winning pass over for a try.
Gutherson and Paulo have both been called away on State Of Origin duty in the past so Lane may have another chance to take the reins later in the season.
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