NRL 2024: Josh Schuster in doubt for Manly’s Las Vegas clash after horror pre-season
Much maligned Manly star Josh Schuster is in a race against time to be fit for the Sea Eagles’ trip to Las Vegas, after a horror run of injuries and illness during the pre-season.
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Manly second-rower Josh Schuster is in a race to play round one in Las Vegas after an injury-plagued pre-season.
On Wednesday the club confirmed the 22-year-old suffered a spiral fracture in his finger which required surgery at the start of 2024, as well as a recent calf strain which has added to his woes.
A bout of chickenpox at the end of the year means he hasn’t properly trained with the squad since early December.
Manly are hopeful he will be fit to play at least one trial, but with the historic season-opener against South Sydney in Las Vegas just over four weeks away it will be an impressive recovery if Schuster boards the plane.
It follows a wretched string of luck for the talented young star who has battled calf, quad and ankle injuries as well as fitness issues in the past two seasons which restricted him to NRL 13 games in 2022 and 15 in 2023.
In better news for the club, star fullback Tom Trbojevic is ready to return to the field and could feature as soon as Friday’s closed-door scrimmage against St George Illawarra at Narabeen.
The fitness of the star fullback is crucial to the club’s success in 2024, but added depth in the outside backs have eased pressure on his shoulders.
They’ve added Tommy Talau from Wests Tigers as well as Jaxson Paulo from the Roosters.
“We’re kind of in a window. We’re back to our depth,” said chief executive Tony Mestrov on Wednesday.
“Tom is back to old Tom, he’s striding out, he’s fit.
“We’re a happy club, we just need a fair share of injuries, that’s all we need I reckon.
“It’s been the best it’s been for a long, long time.
“We’ve got competition, there’s a bit of hunger back.
“Now we’ve got genuine depth in the outside backs, We’ve got the depth, it’s up to us. There’s quiet confidence without getting ahead of ourselves.”
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Originally published as NRL 2024: Josh Schuster in doubt for Manly’s Las Vegas clash after horror pre-season
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