Andrew McCullough injured at training as Broncos’ woes increase
Fears that Andrew McCullough’s season could be over after a training ground incident have eased but Brisbane will still look to Redcliffe Dolphins to fill the gap at hooker in Friday night’s clash with Manly.
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Broncos skipper Darius Boyd expects Redcliffe hooker Jake Turpin to be called up for Friday’s clash with Manly if scans confirm Andrew McCullough will miss several weeks with a knee injury.
On Monday night, Broncos insiders believed McCullough had not suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury, but rather had damaged a medial ligament which is likely to sideline him for several weeks.
McCullough, also the incumbent Queensland hooker, yelled in pain when he crashed to the turf in a training drill and was carried to the dressing rooms to be assessed.
Turpin, 22, played two NRL games, both as an interchange player last year, including a 48-16 win over Manly in round 25.
His selection with halfback Tom Dearden would see Brisbane’s two main ballhandlers have a total of three NRL appearances between them.
“I think if Macca can’t play Jake Turpin would the go-to,’’ Boyd told The Courier-Mail.
“From what I’m hearing it’s not an ACL. Hopefully it’s not too serious, only a couple of weeks (out) if it is something which needs time out.
“Jake has filled in before and done a great job. He’s been playing pretty well in the Queensland Cup — Jake’s a good backup.’’
Queensland are dreadfully short of hooker options with Jake Friend (biceps) unavailable for the entire series and Cameron Smith vowing last week he would not be enticed into a comeback.
McCullough and utility Ben Hunt are the main hooking options for a worried Maroons coach Kevin Walters coming out of another punishing weekend for Queensland’s small Origin talent pool.
Cowboys hooker Jake Granville has had his form challenges this year but does have four full years of NRL experience in a specialist position.
“Jake Granville is another who is still playing and seems to be on the way up — we will just have to look at our options,” Walters told AAP.
If McCullough is unavailable for the June 5 Origin series opener, Smith and Walters would come under renewed scrutiny over whether Smith should declare himself available as a mercy-dash mission to occupy a position in which Queensland are thin.
Hunt, a halfback, cannot be expected to play 80 minutes as hooker and assume the elevated workload required amid the Origin collisions.
Queensland’s forwards concerns do not extend to Josh McGuire, with his calf injury assessed as needing one to three weeks only on the sidelines and Origin I still 29 days away.
But Queensland’s options in the playmaking roles have been thinned by confirmation that Dragon Corey Norman will miss up to eight weeks with a broken cheekbone.
While McGuire is a big loss for North Queensland’s Magic Round clash with Souths on Sunday, the Test forward could play at least one club game before the Maroons are selected on May 27.
McCullough was man of the match in Brisbane’s 38-6 loss to South Sydney last Thursday and had noticeably sought to run more in his past two matches to add badly needed menace to his dummy-half game.
McCullough has made more tackles than any NRL player this year.
Brisbane would have to take on the formidable Manly “middles’’ without his workrate in a game they must win to remain two wins out of the top eight.
The 178cm Turpin’s weight is listed at 86kg, making him 6kg lighter than McCullough’s official weight.
Originally published as Andrew McCullough injured at training as Broncos’ woes increase
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