“Worst I’ve seen”: NRL world rocked by “horrific” injuries
Trent Robinson says the Rooster’s injury crisis is “without a doubt” the worst he has ever seen after his side lost three players during Thursday night’s game.
Luke Keary was rushed to hospital with a suspected ruptured spleen in the Roosters’ 26-4 loss to Melbourne at the SCG.
He joins a list of the growing casualties including Keary, Mitch Aubusson, with his fractured wrist, and Lachlan Lam, who injured his ankle, who were all taken from the field on Thursday night.
Test five-eighth Keary was taken off the field on Thursday in the 63rd minute after he said he was in severe pain.
Paramedics rushed him to hospital and initially believed he had a rib injury.
Despite his injury, he refused to give up and went back on to the field before he was taken off again.
In the sheds, concerns grew for a ruptured spleen given the location of the hit where he was hit by Storm centre Brenko Lee.
“He was running and trying to stay on but we could see it,” Robinson said.
“It was actually our call to get him off rather than his call in the end. He sent (the trainer) away, but you've got to save them from themselves sometimes.”
Aubusson having a fractured wrist could mean the 301-game player is off contract at the end of the season.
It adds to an already long injury list that includes Boyd Cordner, Brett Morris, Victor Radley, Daniel Tupou, Angus Crichton and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
Discussing the injury crisis on the Matty Johns Show after the game, Roosters great Luke Ricketson labelled it “horrific.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is,” Ricketson said.
“People are stalking about the time off that everyone’s had and coming back and not being conditioned for this style of football but the game’s just got a lot faster and there’s more minutes being played and people are just not adapting to it and the injuries are just going everywhere.”
Robinson and Craig Bellamy both suggested that the new six-again rule had contributed to the mounting injury toll.
Less stoppages in play could point to players feeling increased fatigue.
‘NRL Physio’ Brian Sweeney wrote on Twitter that “major injuries (that require 5+ weeks recovery time) have increased to 6.64 per round this season (an increase of over 60% since 2018).”
Robinson said: “We knew the risk of it all and we assumed the risk because that’s what we are here to do.”
“Not having byes and the rule changes have increased the intensity by about 10 to 15 per cent.
“There are consequences for that, a better game and more injuries at the moment.”
The Storms lost their own additional players including lost Jahrome Hughes with a groin injury and Suliasi Vunivalu with a broken jaw.
They join stars Cameron Smith and Cameron Munster on the sidelines.
Although the injury toll in Melbourne is not nearly as bad as some, Bellamy says that rule changes need to be readvised and reconsidered for the safety of the players at the end of the season.
“Losing a guy like Luke Keary, he’s one of the elite players in our competition,” he said.
“I thought the last 20 minutes was a bit of an ugly game to be quite honest. We had players playing in positions they’re not used to. The Roosters had that too.
“The fatigue in the game, we decided we wanted that but I’m not sure if there’s too much fatigue with the amount of teams that have got a lot of injuries.
“We’ve got two of our most influential players out and it’s not just about fatigue and soft tissue injuries.
“When people get fatigued they put their bodies in the wrong places when they make tackles or absorb the contact and you get injured from there.
“It’s something we need to have a look at, because it was like a MASH unit tonight. It seems as though there’s a lot of injuries.”