NRL Physio: Tevita Pangai Junior’s shocking hamstring history

NRL Physio gives his expert analysis of all weekend injuries, including Tevita Pangai Jnr, Tom Trbojevic and Viliame Kikau.

NRL Physio gives his expert analysis of all weekend injuries, including Tevita Pangai Jnr, Tom Trbojevic and Viliame Kikau.

Tevita Pangai Junior

After only lasting 20 minutes in the Broncos trial match on Saturday night due to a right hamstring injury, TPJ received some better than expected news. His injury is considered only “mild in nature”, and there is hope he will be back running at training as soon as today.

Despite this good news, there is certainly some cause for concern with Pangai Junior’s latest setback. His history with hamstring issues over the past 2 seasons is quite extensive:

Brien Seeney, aka NRL Physio.

— August 18th 2017 – Suffers a left hamstring strain, misses 1 week

— August 31st 2017 – Returns and re-injures hamstring, misses 2 weeks

— March 23rd 2018 – Suffers a hamstring strain, misses 1 week

— July 15th 2018 – Suffers hamstring tightness in final training run, misses 1 week

— July 20th 2018 – Leaves the game with left hamstring tightness after playing 31 minutes

— August 2nd 2018 – Leaves the game with hamstring and groin soreness after playing 48 minutes

— September 2nd 2018 – Leaves the game with a right hamstring issue after playing 50 minutes

— February 23rd 2019 – Leaves trial match with a mild right hamstring injury after playing 20 minutes

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No doubt with this in mind Pangai Junior spent a portion of the offseason visiting a hamstring injury prevention expert in an effort to avoid these issues before they arise. For TPJ to undergo specific rehabilitation in this area and suffer a hamstring strain in his very first game of 2019 is unfortunate, and the hope will be these issues do not linger throughout the long season ahead.

It would not be surprising to see Pangai Junior shut down for at least 2 weeks, until Round 1, considering his history and the high recurrence rate of hamstring injuries (10-30%). In good news the Broncos medical staff seem confident this will settle quickly for the lock forward.

Tom Trbojevic

The Sea Eagles custodian limped off during the trial match this past weekend after going down non-contact during a fairly innocuous run. Running whilst leaning forward is when the hamstring is at greatest risk of injury, and unfortunately for Trbojevic this is how he suffered a reported Grade 1 hamstring strain.

This is the lowest grading of hamstring strain, but Trbojevic is still expected to miss the next 6 weeks with a possible return in round 4 of the NRL regular season.

Grade 1 strains often only require 2-4 weeks recovery time, so it was surprising to see such a lengthy layoff predicted by the Sea Eagles. However there are factors that can increase recovery time even in mild hamstring injuries. Strains higher up in the hamstring, towards the glutes, often require a lengthier recovery, and injury to the hamstring tendons can take longer to heal due to decreased blood flow.

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The Sea Eagles are likely to take a conservative approach to Trbojevic’s rehab considering it is so early in the season and the high recurrence rate of hamstring strains. Despite this he will be one to keep an eye on for an earlier than expected recovery, as many minor hamstring strains allow a return to the field within a month.

Viliame Kikau

Viliame Kikau down with an MCL injury. Picture: Image by Gregg Porteous, NRL Photos

The way in which Kikau injured himself this past weekend had many Panthers and NRL fans alike fearing the worst. After an opposition player landed on the back of Kikau’s lower leg during a tackle, causing his knee to collapse inwards, he was seen in considerable pain and required assistance to come from the field.

This is a typical mechanism for an MCL injury, or in some cases an ACL injury, and the hope was that Kikau had avoided the worst case.

He has since been diagnosed with a grade 2 MCL injury and is expected to miss 6 weeks.

Viliame Kikau suffered a high grade 2 MCL injury (via @PhilGould15) and is expected to miss 6 weeks. This would have Kikau returning approx Rd 4. A grade 2 injury indicates a partial tear of the ligament, so can still be significant damage. Usual range is 3-6 weeks (see below) pic.twitter.com/vBYncVrE20

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) February 25, 2019

Greg Inglis

On restricted training duties in the past month due to soreness in his left knee, Greg Inglis has expressed a desire to play in the upcoming Charity Shield match this weekend.

Rabbitohs high performance head, Jarrod Wade, has tempered these expectations with the view of having Inglis fit and firing for Round 1.

With this issue being in the same knee Inglis had an ACL reconstruction in 2017, the Rabbitohs will likely exercise caution in the return to a full workload for their captain.

Inglis is expected to play at centre when he does return, which will allow him to gradually build up to the running load required from playing 80 minutes at fullback.

Kelepi Tanginoa and Taniela Paseka

Both Sea Eagles forwards are expected to miss the first 2 rounds of the NRL season after suffering knee injuries on Saturday night.

There has been little detail on the specific nature of these injuries, but it sounds as if Des Hasler will be looking for some forward replacements come the early rounds.