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The Sydney Roosters’ NRL premiership hopes have been rocked after star halfback Sam Walker, Brandon Smith and Victor Radley suffered painful injuries in a stunning 14-12 loss to Canberra at Allianz Stadium.
Walker’s injury appeared the most serious of the three, with the 22-year-old suspected to have damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee attempting to tackle Simi Sasagi 12 minutes into Sunday’s game before being assisted from the field.At their worst, ACL injuries can rule players out for more than a year.
“The three men are currently getting scans. Sammy doesn’t appear to be doing well. Trent Robinson, the coach of the Roosters, stated, “That is really disappointing.” Walker’s season-ending injury would force the third-place Roosters to go against the odds and win the championship. An NRL grand final has never been won by a team without their first-choice halfback. In Walker’s absence, Luke Keary will partner with Sandon Smith in the halves, and Robinson is optimistic about his team’s chances of winning the premiership. “We have a team because of it. Even if you don’t always get to see them, you have to have faith in the next big thing,” Robinson remarked. “So let’s go, let’s get excited about moving on to next week.”
The Roosters, still recovering from the Walker blow, had to reorganize shortly before halftime when Elliott Whitehead of Canberra crunched Brandon Smith’s right leg in a hip-drop tackle. Also receiving assistance from the field was the hooker, who may have had a knee injury. Ten minutes after half-time, second-rower Radley was tackled by Joe Tapine and Adam Cook, resulting in left shoulder injuries that sent him to the casualty ward with Smith and Walker. Subsequently, fellow forward Nat Butcher reported a head injury classification of one. He is anticipated to return for the finals, although he is unlikely to play against South Sydney the following week. On Sunday, Raiders skipper Whitehead received two sin bins: one for taking a shot at Smith and the other for kicking the ball when Angus Crichton had it in his hands.
He had been integral to the Raiders’ surprise 10-2 half-time lead, crashing over from a Danny Levi pass out of dummy half before throwing the offload that handed Sasagi the Raiders’ second try. When Xavier Savage tore down the right edge following a Michael Jennings error, the Raiders were up 14-2.
Daniel Tupou slid over on the left wing soon after Whitehead’s second dismissal, with the Roosters finally shaking off uncharacteristic execution issues. When Keary picked Tupou out with a fifth-tackle kick in the final seconds, the Roosters had a chance to equalise with a sideline conversion after the siren, but part-time kicker Keary missed to the left. “I don’t know if I’ve coached many more courageous efforts,” said Raiders coach Ricky Stuart. “They had 60 per cent of the footy, I can’t remember a good ball set we had in the second half … the (ruck) infringements and penalties were 16-6 (against Canberra).
“We had so much go against us today that it made the win so much sweeter.”
Canberra have ambushed premiership fancies Penrith and the Roosters inside two weeks but their for-and-against leaves only a mathematical chance of playing finals, their likeliest path being to beat St George Illawarra while hoping Newcastle and the Dolphins draw. Raider Jordan Rapana has played his last NRL game after suffering a fractured cheekbone laying a try-saving tackle on James Tedesco.
Rapana appeared to wear Tedesco’s elbow in his face as he tackled him in mid air. Stuart confirmed he would not feature again before joining Super League side Hull FC next year.
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