[ad_1]
A devastated Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien has changed his tune on the NRL’s new 18th man rule, and says he won’t be able to find enough fit players to name a 21-man squad this week following a horrorshow on Sunday afternoon.
The Knights lost Mitchell Pearce (pectoral), Tex Hoy (hamstring), and Kurt Mann (concussion) during the shock loss to St George Illawarra.
Watch The 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership Live & On-Demand with No Ad-Breaks During Play. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
Veteran prop David Klemmer also bravely battled on despite being on one leg, nursing a knee injury sustained during the contest.
Earlier in the day, the club had young talent Dom Young injure his knee while playing reserve grade.
Those five fresh injuries add to a brutal casualty ward for the Hunter club.
Edrick Lee (foot), Kalyn Ponga (shoulder), Bradman Best (elbow), Lachlan Fitzgibbon (shoulder), and Jirah Momoisea (Achilles) are all already out injured.
It means 11 of his 30-man squad is currently injured.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to name 21,” O’Brien said when asked how he will fill a squad on Tuesday.
Each NRL club is allowed 30 contracted players, and must name 21 in a squad each Tuesday.
Last week, Roosters coach Trent Robinson had to seek exemption to name players just so he could fill his squad.
READ MORE: New NRL rule breaks Dragons’ hearts
In light of a horror Round 3 injury toll across the game, the NRL rushed in a new rule which will allow each team to carry an 18th man.
The player can be subbed into the contest if a team suffers three concussions during play.
O’Brien was sceptical of the new rule, but after Sunday’s catastrophe he is coming around to the idea.
“I was unsure around the HIAs … I’m on the other side of it tonight,” he said.
“I probably wasn’t thinking that way earlier, and you can’t judge everything on the one incident.
“The one thing I know (is) we need to start listening to our players, we need to start talking to them.
“They are the ones going through it out there, so that’s all I would say. I do it a lot, asking them how they’re feeling out there and what the game is like.
“Whether that’s the 18th man or not … I don’t know.
“(The rule) probably seems rushed at the moment … I can’t get my head around it at the moment.
“I’m going to base everything based on what’s just happened to our team, so I don’t want to make outlandish comments and I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”
The Knights will take on Gold Coast in Round 5.
O’Brien is hopeful Ponga will be fit to return from a shoulder problem.
[ad_2]
Source link
