Brissy Bulldog
Proud to be a Bulldog
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2004
- Messages
- 1,060
- Reaction score
- 2
At least there will be no more speculation about when Willie T is coming back
----------------------------------------
Bulldogs and Australia centre Willie Tonga will undergo surgery next week and miss the rest of the season, with long-serving club doctor Hugh Hazard labelling the premiers' injury blight the worst in at least 24 years.
Tonga's knee surgery was confirmed after last night's 56-4 flogging by Parramatta. Halfback Brent Sherwin (calf), fullback Luke Patten (ankle), second-rower Sonny Bill Williams (knee) and winger Hazem El Masri (knee) will also be sidelined until 2006 unless the Dogs make the finals.
"He just didn't heal - his medial ligament didn't tighten up," Hazard said of Tonga. "We gave him every opportunity for it to happen. It hasn't happened so we're looking to his long-term career. He's got to have a stable knee for the way that he plays and the things that he does."
The medico could not recall a worse run of casualties since 1981, when the Belmore side missed the finals the season after winning the competition with a memorable grand-final win over Eastern Suburbs.
"When we won the grand final in 1980, the following year we had all those boys hurt," he said. "Greg Brentnall broke his arm twice, four or five blokes got glandular fever and we didn't even make the top five."
Other lame 2005 Dogs include hooker Adam Perry (calf), utility Brad Morrin (shoulder), halfback Brett Oliver (knee), prop Trevor Thurling (knee) and fullback Trent Cutler (leg).
Last night the Bulldogs missed 46 tackles on the way to their heaviest loss to the blue and golds. Their error count was surprisingly low - 14, with prop Roy Asotasi making three - but as captain Andrew Ryan pointed out, the defence was their weak point.
The Dogs will find themselves three competition points outside the top eight with three games to play if Melbourne beat the Warriors at Olympic Park tonight.
But coach Steve Folkes refused to use the lengthy injury toll as an excuse after last night's 10-try humiliation.
"We haven't made excuses all year," he said. "We're not about to start now."
Asked if the finals were out of reach, Folkes said: "If we play like that, certainly. You never know but obviously we would need to play a helluva lot better than that … depending on how Melbourne go, we're still only one point out of the eight if they get beat. It was one of those games that comes along every now and then and unfortunately we were on the end of a big scoreline."
Second-rower Ryan characterised the evening as "not excellent". "Everything [Parramatta] did was fantastic," the former Eel said.
"Any loss is pretty hard to take but it's disappointing to lose by that margin. We'll still turn up and train tomorrow. It's on again next week. We'll keep fighting."
Asked to sum up the defeat, Folkes didn't try to be profound.
"We were outplayed by a much better team on the night," he said. "Obviously that's an understatement … what would you like me to say?"
----------------------------------------
Bulldogs and Australia centre Willie Tonga will undergo surgery next week and miss the rest of the season, with long-serving club doctor Hugh Hazard labelling the premiers' injury blight the worst in at least 24 years.
Tonga's knee surgery was confirmed after last night's 56-4 flogging by Parramatta. Halfback Brent Sherwin (calf), fullback Luke Patten (ankle), second-rower Sonny Bill Williams (knee) and winger Hazem El Masri (knee) will also be sidelined until 2006 unless the Dogs make the finals.
"He just didn't heal - his medial ligament didn't tighten up," Hazard said of Tonga. "We gave him every opportunity for it to happen. It hasn't happened so we're looking to his long-term career. He's got to have a stable knee for the way that he plays and the things that he does."
The medico could not recall a worse run of casualties since 1981, when the Belmore side missed the finals the season after winning the competition with a memorable grand-final win over Eastern Suburbs.
"When we won the grand final in 1980, the following year we had all those boys hurt," he said. "Greg Brentnall broke his arm twice, four or five blokes got glandular fever and we didn't even make the top five."
Other lame 2005 Dogs include hooker Adam Perry (calf), utility Brad Morrin (shoulder), halfback Brett Oliver (knee), prop Trevor Thurling (knee) and fullback Trent Cutler (leg).
Last night the Bulldogs missed 46 tackles on the way to their heaviest loss to the blue and golds. Their error count was surprisingly low - 14, with prop Roy Asotasi making three - but as captain Andrew Ryan pointed out, the defence was their weak point.
The Dogs will find themselves three competition points outside the top eight with three games to play if Melbourne beat the Warriors at Olympic Park tonight.
But coach Steve Folkes refused to use the lengthy injury toll as an excuse after last night's 10-try humiliation.
"We haven't made excuses all year," he said. "We're not about to start now."
Asked if the finals were out of reach, Folkes said: "If we play like that, certainly. You never know but obviously we would need to play a helluva lot better than that … depending on how Melbourne go, we're still only one point out of the eight if they get beat. It was one of those games that comes along every now and then and unfortunately we were on the end of a big scoreline."
Second-rower Ryan characterised the evening as "not excellent". "Everything [Parramatta] did was fantastic," the former Eel said.
"Any loss is pretty hard to take but it's disappointing to lose by that margin. We'll still turn up and train tomorrow. It's on again next week. We'll keep fighting."
Asked to sum up the defeat, Folkes didn't try to be profound.
"We were outplayed by a much better team on the night," he said. "Obviously that's an understatement … what would you like me to say?"
)