Warriors injury woes continue with Paul Turner ruled out for season
Stuff sports reporters
17:03, Apr 24 2021
The bad injury news keeps mounting for the Warriors, with the club confirming rookie Paul
Turner’s shoulder injury is set to rule him out for the rest of the NRL season.
The 20-year-old utility came off the bench and was instrumental in
last weekend’s win over the St George Illawarra Dragons, scoring a maiden try and playing on despite his clear setback, after
Peta Hiku had already been forced off with a dislocated shoulder of his own.
Both were ruled out indefinitely midweek, though speaking on the eve of the team’s Anzac Day clash against the Storm in Melbourne on Sunday night, assistant coach Craig Hodges said
Turner, who made a debut appearance last season before two more this year, needed extensive surgery to his left shoulder.
“I don’t think we’ll see him again this year, which is really disappointing, because although he’d only had two games, I thought he was doing a really good job in that utility role off the bench,” Hodges said.
“It was a pretty courageous effort of him to play on the other day. I thought it shows what the team and the club means to him and showed the sort of character that he has to play on, because it was pretty obvious to all our medical staff straight after the game that he wasn’t in a good way.
“But he did his job for everybody. We would have been in a lot of trouble had he had to come off, after losing Peta [
Hiku] early in the game.”
The Warriors have seven players in their casualty ward, including star recruit
Addin Fonua-Blake, who isn’t expected to return from a knee injury until round 19-20.
Hodges was able to deliver some slightly better news on
Adam Pompey, who’s ankle injury suffered against the Dragons should only keep him out for a couple of weeks.
Fellow backs
Euan Aitken (ankle) and
Chanel Harris-Tavita (foot) have also both started running light laps of the training paddock, while second rower
Eliesa Katoa’s injury picked up while playing for feeder club Redcliffe against Wynnum Manly in the Queensland Cup last weekend was turf toe, and will see him out for two to three weeks.
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