NRL Physio’s casualty ward for final week of NRL trials 2019

Brien Seeney, AKA NRL Physio, runs his rule over the injuries from the final NRL trials. SuperCoaches take note.

Brien Seeney, AKA NRL Physio, runs his rule over the injuries from the final NRL trials.

Scott Drinkwater

Unfortunate news from the Storm with their young fullback leaving the field in the trial against the Cowboys with a suspected pectoral tear.

A pec rupture (complete tear) usually occurs when the pec tendon tears from its attachment to the front of the upper arm.

NRL Physio (left) has the latest on Scott Drinkwater.

As Drinkwater rolled over the top of a tackle his arm was caught in a position that appeared to put his pectoral muscle on stretch at a high velocity. This is a common way to suffer a pec rupture, and Drinkwater was clearly in some distress as he left the field clutching at his left shoulder.

Unfortunate news with confirmation of a ruptured (completely torn) pec for Scott Drinkwater. Will require surgery, with a usual return to play in 10-14 weeks for NRL players. Animation below shows example of pec repair surgery, wish Drinkwater the best with his recovery pic.twitter.com/5KnsAttnT7

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) March 4, 2019

Scans on Monday confirmed a pec rupture as feared; Drinkwater will undergo surgery with a usual recovery time in the NRL of 10-14 weeks.

In good news this surgical and rehab process has progressed significantly in the past 20 years.

It was common in the early 2000’s for an NRL player to miss 4-6 months with a pec rupture that required surgery.

The table below shows how the return to play times have reduced over this time period.

Player	Year	Return to Play
Luke Bailey	2001	22 Weeks
Luke Bailey	2004	19 Weeks
Mark Gasnier	2007	19 Weeks
Luke Keary	2014	19 Weeks
John Sutton	2016	14 Weeks
Boyd Cordner	2016	10 Weeks
Dale Copley	2016	10 Weeks
John Olive	2017	11 Weeks
Peni Terepo	2017	13 Weeks
Siliva Havili	2017	13 Weeks
Curtis Sironen	2017	10 Weeks
Kane Linnett	2018	14 Weeks
Daniel Tupou	2018	11 Weeks
John Asiata	2018	12 Weeks
Mitchell Pearce	2018	12 Weeks

Manu Ma’u

Scans on Sunday morning confirmed Eels second rower had suffered no injury to his ACL after he went down heavily during the trial on Saturday night.

Ma’u will undergo further assessment before a return to play timeline is established.

He was hopeful of missing as little as 2-3 weeks.

Considering the nature of Ma’u’s injury, minor damage to his MCL or meniscus could see him miss anywhere from 2-6 weeks.

Chris Lawrence

Bad news from across the Tasman as it was reported Chris Lawrence had suffered a badly broken jaw at training last week in the lead up to the Tigers trial against the Warriors.

Lawrence was unable to fly home straight away such was the severity of the injury.

MORE SUPERCOACH:

Full SuperCoach News section / Cheapie Bible / Predicted round one teams / Sangster’s team / Champ’s team / Wilfred’s team / Tallis’s team / Copes’ team / Huge rule change / Top 10 rookies in NRL

The environment in an aircraft cabin is different to that on the ground, with factors like decreased air pressure leading to an increased risk of swelling in people with acute fractures.

Once Lawrence is able to return home he will undergo surgery, usually involving titanium plates and screws, to help the fracture/s heal in a stable environment.

Most jaw fractures result in a 4-6 week recovery period, although in cases of severe/multiple fractures this can extend to 10-12 weeks.

Bone healing will not be the only challenge in Lawrence’s recovery, with weight loss a common side effect of having to adopt a liquid diet post jaw surgery.

Minor injuries

There were many minor injuries that caused players to miss game time over the weekend, although all are expected to be fit for Round 1 at this stage.

These include:

Elijah Taylor (minor pectoral strain), Josh Mansour (leg cut), Junior Paulo (minor hamstring strain), Josh Dugan (HIA), Paul Vaughan (HIA), Adam Blair (hamstring tightness), Christian Welch (virus), Joe Stimson (back soreness), Shaun Kenny-Dowall (minor ankle sprain), George Jennings (knee), Matt Moylan (minor calf issue), Hymel Hunt (minor hamstring injury) and Paul Momirovski (minor quad injury).

FULL NRL CASUALTY WARD

BRONCOS

Payne Haas (Disciplinary, Round 5)

BULLDOGS

Fa’amanu Brown (Leg, Round 4)

COWBOYS

Kyle Feldt (Groin, TBC)

DRAGONS

Jack De Belin (Stood down, Indefinite)

Korbin Sims (Suspension, Round 3)

EELS

Kaysa Pritchard (Personal leave, Indefinite)

Manu Ma’u (Knee, Round 6)

George Jennings (Knee, Round 3)

Junior Paulo (Hamstring, Possible Round 1)

Jaeman Salmon (Suspension, Round 2)

Peni Terepo (Stood Down, Indefintie)

KNIGHTS

Tautau Moga (Knee, Round 2)

Slade Griffin (Knee, TBC)

Nathan Ross (Finger, Round 5)

Jacob Saifiti (Leg, Indefinite)

Mason Lino (Knee, Round 3)

ROOSTERS

Ryan Hall (Knee, Round 8)

PANTHERS

Sam McKendry (Knee, TBC)

Viliame Kikau (Knee, Round 3-5)

Tyrone May (Stood Down, Indefinite)

RABBITOHS

Adam Doueihi (Knee, Round 4-5)

George Burgess (Suspension, Round 4)

Kurt Dillon (Achilles, Round 3)

RAIDERS

Jordan Rapana (Shoulder, Round 7-10)

Michael Oldfield (Ground, Round 2)

SHARKS

Wade Graham (Knee, Round 9-12)

Ava Seumanufagai (PCL, Round 4)

SEA EAGLES

Tom Trbojevic (Hamstring, Round 3)

Kelepi Tanginoa (Knee, Round 2)

Taniela Paseka (Knee, Round 2)

Dylan Walker (Stood down, Indefininte)

STORM

Scott Drinkwater (Pectoral, Round 8-12)

Joe Stimson (Back, Round 2)

TIGERS

Chris Lawrence (Broken jaw, Indefininte)

David Nofaluma (Shoulder, Round 3)

Moses Mbye (Knee, Round 2)

TITANS

No injuries

WARRIORS

Isaiah Papali’i (Disciplinary, Round 2)

Issac Luke (Shoulder, Round 2)

Originally published as NRL Physio’s casualty ward for final week of NRL trials 2019