NRL Casualty Ward: PNG lose Olam, Tai; Lemuelu’s knee worry
A persistent knee problem has forced storm center Justin Olam to miss Papua New Guinea’s Pacific Championships campaign.
PNG coach Justin Olam declared he would not participate in the competition when the Kumuls returned to camp in Port Moresby on Sunday after taking a week off to prepare for the Test match against Fiji. Olam was conspicuously absent from the match.
We knew he wouldn’t be ready for the first game, which is why I initially included him in the 21-man roster, Holbrook stated.
He still can’t run on it, but we had two more weeks to observe how his knee healed after taking a week off.
“When I called him to check on him following the Cook Islands match, he replied, ‘Look, I just haven’t had the clearance from the physios,’ which makes sense.
Even though he had an additional two weeks to recuperate, it was insufficient. He still requires a few more weeks.
In addition, Featherstone’s McKenzie Yei has been practicing alone since returning from England with a knee injury, while the Kumuls have lost center Rodrick Tai, who was heading for Warrington, due to a knee injury sustained against the Cook Islands.
“He’s missed a few weeks through injury and obviously with a long flight, he’s just not right yet, so they’re gonna pretty much spend the week doing rehab and then we’ll just reassess him next week,” Holbrook said on Yei.
Connelly Lemuelu, a forward for the Dolphins, had a knee injury while traveling with Toa Samoa for the Pacific Championships. He will undergo more testing on the knee.
Lemuelu was forced to miss the team’s second Test match against New Zealand on October 21 due to the injury, and now that Samoa’s campaign is finished, coach Ben Gardiner has said he will have it checked out.
Gardiner said while the injury was significant enough that the 25-year-old “was never going to play” against New Zealand, he didn’t believe it would restrict his return to pre-season training.
New Roosters recruit Dom Young will miss England’s Test series against Tonga after a sinus infection spread throughout his head and forced him to be hospitalised.
Young is reported to be on the mend and is expected to make a full recovery in time for his new club’s 2024 season opener in Las Vegas.
Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai has had surgery on the shoulder he dislocated late in the season before bravely returning to play in the preliminary final and premiership decider.
Luai, who was ruled out of Samoa’s Pacific Championship campaign, left the field in the 51st minute of the grand final carrying his left arm and watched on from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Cook Islands halfback Tevin Arona has been cleared of a spinal fracture after being injured in the opening set of tackles in the Pacific Championships clash with Papua New Guinea.
Cook Islands prop Makahesi Makatoa played just five minutes of that match before he was forced off with a suspected pectoral injury and he didn’t play in their second Test against Papua New Guinea.
