Des Hasler confirms Jayden Campbell and David Fifita both set to miss a month through injury
Des Hasler provided an injury update on Jayden Campbell and David Fifita and it’s bad news for Fifita, whose hopes of an Origin recall hang in the balance.
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The Gold Coast Titans have been dealt a major blow with star duo David Fifita and Jayden Campbell both set to miss the next month through injury.
Fifita now faces an urgent race against the clock to prove he’s fit and stake his claim to earn a State of Origin recall, with Origin I just five weeks away.
Gold Coast coach Des Hasler the pair would both be out for the next month as his side prepares for a challenging month on the road.
“Dave’s got a hamstring, you’d have to think that his initial diagnosis was a month,” Hasler said.
“We had some good news on JC (Campbell), so we don’t think he’ll need an operation on his syndesmosis but he’s still probably four, five weeks.”
Campbell’s replacement Tom Weaver showed some positive signs at halfback on Sunday in the 22-year-old’s first game of the season.
The Palm Beach Currumbin graduate could have finished with three try assists had AJ Brimson brought down a probing kick into the in-goal in the second half.
Hasler commended Weaver for his performance after a late-week promotion into the Titans halves following Campbell’s injury on Friday.
“Tommy’s a real competitor, he did that for us last year, I thought he had a strong game,” Hasler said.
The coach also provided an update on injured playmaker Kieran Foran but did not confirm a return date.
Foran suffered a torn biceps during Gold Coast’s trial match with the Dolphins in February.
“His type of injury, obviously he’s had surgery so at the end of the day we’ll talk to surgeons,” Hasler said.
“It’s the sort of injury we don’t want to rush, not seven weeks into a season. We don’t want to re-injure that.”
The pressure is set to heat up on the Titans as their next four games are all on the road and with just two wins from their first six games, a poor run of form without their injured stars could massively hamper their finals hopes.
“We’re away for the next month so we’ll need to start making some moves,” Hasler said.
“The competition’s so tight, everybody’s beating everybody at the moment so I thought (Sunday) was a real opportunity to get a Canberra side that’s been on the road a bit.”
Despite the form slump which has seen Gold Coast lose its last three games, captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui holds hope his side can turn its season around.
“I definitely believe that we can do it, we’ve got the group to do it, believing in our system and also on top of what Des has said, the negative plays, try to get them out of our game,” he said
“We’ve just got to go back to training and work on them things.”
Originally published as Des Hasler confirms Jayden Campbell and David Fifita both set to miss a month through injury
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