Injury keeps Cowboys star Michael Morgan on sidelines for another week
COWBOYS coach Paul Green has revealed Michael Morgan was “pretty close” to returning for the blockbuster clash with the Broncos.
NRL
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COWBOYS five-eighth Michael Morgan has been ruled out of Friday night’s blockbuster Queensland derby against the Broncos.
Morgan failed to prove he has recovered from an abdominal strain at training on Thursday, prompting coach Paul Green to leave him out of the Suncorp Stadium showdown.
The Cowboys have a six-day turnaround to next Thursday’s grand final rematch against the Storm in Melbourne.
If Morgan was to play against the Broncos, he may have struggled to recover in time for the Melbourne clash.
Green said the Cowboys did not want to risk Morgan in the Round 2 game.
“Morgo won’t play,” he said.
“He was pretty close but he hadn’t improved enough.
“If he did play, he probably would have taken a fair while to get over the game. That’s the nature of the injury.
“At this stage we don’t want to take that risk. An injury like this can hang around all season and we want to avoid that if we can.”
Te Maire Martin will start at five-eighth again alongside Johnathan Thurston after a solid performance in last Friday’s win against Cronulla.
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