Due to a calf injury, Cody Walker was forced to miss Friday’s Indigenous All Stars match in Townsville.
Walker assisted head coach Ronald Griffiths as an assistant coach in addition to leading the squad to victory in Rotorua the previous season.
In an effort to have his captain healthy for the Rabbitohs’ season opener in Las Vegas, Griffith revealed that his skipper would skip this week’s game and remain back to recover.
Walker’s exit follows Titans forward Jacob Alick’s previous announcement that he will not be playing because of an ankle issue.
The 24-year-old back-rower sustained a syndesmosis injury during practice on Thursday and will miss the game in Townsville, the Titans announced in a statement.
The PNG international has began rehab as he works to return for the start of the NRL season.
Due to previous head injuries, new Cowboys captain Reuben Cotter has ruled himself out of the Harvey Norman All Stars game.
The Australian player, who excelled for the Indigenous team in 2021 and 2022, has decided to pull out of the game scheduled for this Friday at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, home of the Indigenous team.
Despite being sad to miss out, Cotter stated that after taking a few blows to the head in the previous season, he didn’t want to take a chance and miss the season’s first round.
“Towards the end of last year, I received a few minor blows to the head. That’s the fundamental reason, Cotter told the media on Thursday. “I just didn’t want to put myself in that position.”
“And from the standpoint of the club, I want to be present at the preliminary stages.
“I still might be involved if they want to have me and I’ll go in and see the boys.”
A persistent groin issue will also prevent Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam from playing for the Indigenous All Stars.
Mam said, “I just had to manage my load a bit,” this week during a press conference to reveal his new five-year contract with the Broncos.
My groin is aching a little bit. It actually is not very serious.
“I will be back on the field at the end of the week.”
The center of Rabbitohs Following his surgery scheduled for next week to repair damage to his sternum, Campbell Graham might be out for up to six months.
Graham trained throughout the preseason and played through the injury throughout the 2023 campaign, but it has been decided to have surgery on the injured area.
The Kangaroos star will miss NSW’s State of Origin campaign, which is coached by Rabbitohs 2014 premiership winner Michael Maguire, as well as the historic season-opener in Las Vegas.
By the end of the regular season, he should be back on the field for the Souths.
A knee injury has kept Wests Tigers recruit Justin Olam from playing, although he has stated that he hopes to return in Round 2 of the NRL. He was unable to participate in Papua New Guinea’s victorious Pacific Championships campaign due to injury.
“It’s going good now, it’s going good at the moment; I’m not there yet at 100 percent, but I’m putting in the work to get there,” Olam stated.
“I want to be prepared for Round 2.”
After a run of injuries and health issues, the Sea Eagles anticipate having back-rower Josh Schuster available for their first Pre-Season Challenge match against the Roosters on February 17.
After suffering a calf injury on January 29, the 22-year-old was unable to participate in the club’s training sessions that week. However, he is anticipated to resume jogging in the second week of February.
He needed surgery to restore his broken finger at a team camp in Canberra in early January, just after recovering from chickenpox the week before Christmas. This is when he suffered the calf blow.
However, coach Anthony Seibold stated on the team website that Schuster won’t be a doubt for the upcoming Pre-season Challenge games or Telstra Premiership Round 1.
“We expect him to play against the Roosters in our first official trial,” Seibold stated.
“Next week, he’ll resume running, and a week of training will be dedicated to preparation for the Roosters.” Before he contracted chicken pox, I was pretty happy with how far along he had come.
