By Christian Nicolussi
Ronald Volkman has confirmed he will need to undergo a shoulder reconstruction, but may have to wait up to 12 months for the expensive surgery now he is without an NRL club.
The 21-year-old Volkman sought a third opinion for his shoulder from doctor Wade Harper at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital on Friday, and was told he would need to go under the knife.
After being released by the New Zealand Warriors before Christmas, then having his one-year deal with St George Illawarra spiked once he failed his medical, Volkman is facing the grim prospect of having to pay up to $50,000 out of his own pocket for the operation.
He said he was not upset with the Warriors or Dragons for being left in no man’s land, but the hardest thing was accepting he won’t be playing football for a year.
“The doc just told me I need a full reconstruction, which is something you don’t want to be here, but it has to be done,” Volkman told this masthead on Friday.
“I’ll be looking at a good six-month stint on the sidelines, watching teams play against each other.
Ronald Volkman leaves Prince of Wales Hospital on Friday morningCredit: Rhett Wyman/SMH
“I’ve prayed every day, I’m very spiritual, so I’m holding up well, especially with my loved ones around.
“It’s bittersweet I’m back home now but I need surgery. At least my family and partner have been looking out for me.”
Volkman said he knocked his shoulder at Warriors training last month, but was later cleared of anything serious.
“I copped a whack at training, there was some shoulder-to-shoulder contact, and my arm went dead,” Volkman said.
Ronald Volkman is now in limbo after it became clear he needed shoulder surgery.Credit: NRL Photos
“It was pretty sweet afterwards, and I could move it. But I didn’t realise I had done something serious.”
The Dragons announced they had signed Volkman on January 3, he completed some light training with the club the following day, then the Red V’s own medicos discovered two screws in Volkman’s shoulders had been displaced.
The signed deal was never submitted to the NRL to be registered. The Dragons said they felt sorry for Volkman, but there was no way they could press ahead with the contract.
Coach Shane Flanagan on Thursday said, in hindsight, the club should have made Volkman complete his medical behind closed doors, rather than train with the team while not officially contracted.
‘I was keen for that NRL challenge in 2024, but it’s come up short before the trials have even started. That’s been hard for me.’
Ronald Volkman
Volkman refused to blame either club and only wanted to focus on his recovery.
“I haven’t fully processed it all yet; the RLPA have been helping me heaps with my mental health,” Volkman said.
“The Dragons were keen, it’s just unfortunate this injury has come up.
“It hasn’t hit me yet I won’t be playing this season. I was trying to rip in and find my feet as an NRL player. I’ve played a lot of reserve grade … I was keen for that NRL challenge in 2024, but it’s come up short before the trials have even started. That’s been hard for me.”
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan says he had to put the interests of the club first.Credit: NRL Photos
When pressed on who would pay for the surgery, Volkman laughed and said: “I might have to ask my manager, Mario [Tartak]. He’s got all the big bucks. Because I’m a public patient now, the wait time could be up to a year. That’s something you never want to hear. I’ll know more on Monday.”
Tartak only sought the official release from the Warriors so the Dragons could formally start preparing their own paperwork.
The Warriors paid out Volkman about $200,000 of his deal, which was for this year and 2025.
Flanagan said there had been lessons learned about how they had dealt with Volkman.
“The light training he did that exposed his injury should have been done behind closed doors,” Flanagan said. “The training he did with us showed he wasn’t fit. It was more of a medical [that day]. He only caught and passed. He didn’t do any contact.
“I’ve done this for 20 years and I’ve never seen a player fail a medical. We have history on players, he had had a shoulder reconstruction ... but to look at the scans, he didn’t just fail [the medical] a little bit, he had two screws pulled out.
“I feel sorry for the young bloke. It’s unfortunate ... as a club, we had to protect ourselves. There are a lot of learnings from it. The club won’t shy away from that.”
Warriors chief executive Cameron George told this masthead last week the club had not hidden anything from the Dragons about Volkman’s injury, and said they should have completed a medical before announcing the signing.
“That’s due diligence I would’ve thought a club would take before agreeing to sign someone,” he added.
Warriors chief executive Cameron George is adamant the ball was in the Dragons’ court on Volkman.Credit: Getty
Dragons chief executive Ryan Webb, like Flanagan, was perplexed by the discrepancies in Volkman’s scan results.
“We didn’t have any reason to be overly cautious based on the information we had,” Webb said. “Next time, you’d be cautious about when you go public [with the signing news].
The Dragons, who have maintained contact with Volkman, have since signed Jesse Marschke, who spent the past three months training with the Melbourne Storm.
“He was here today, contract signed, and he’s a good kid,” Flanagan said.
The Dragons also announced Squadron Energy would become the club’s back-of-jersey sponsor before replacing St George Bank as the major sponsor on the front of their jerseys for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
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