James Aubussen might be heading to Dragons...
Carl Webb mentioned in Eels discussions...isn't everyone?
under-20s star Lama Tasi has been poached from Sea Eagles by Chooks...supposed to be very good back-rower...
and this, from yesterday:
Luck injury looked like 'shark attack'
By Will Swanton From: The Sunday Telegraph August 22,
NEW Zealand Warriors lock Micheal Luck last night suffered one of the most gruesome injuries seen in the NRL.
Warriors players recoiled in horror and captain Simon Mannering feared he would vomit when he saw the 18cm gash above Luck's knee.
It was so deep the muscle was clearly visible to anyone unfortunate enough to see it.
It's unthinkable that Luck, whose leg was slashed by the studs on Manly star Anthony Watmough's boots, will recover in time to play Brisbane in Auckland on Friday night.
Warriors medical staff covered Luck's leg for fear the sight of it would horrify television viewers as much as it repulsed Mannering.
They refused to allow the pictures, taken on the mobile telephones of medical staff, to be printed in this newspaper because it was too ugly.
"I saw it and went 'holy crap', I've never seen anything like that on a footy field," Mannering said.
"Watmough's boot just sliced through his leg. The skin was just ripped off and you could see down to his muscle, all this pink flesh kind of hanging out, it was bloody horrible.
"I ran straight up to the ref and said you've got to stop play.
"Blood was everywhere. He's such a tough bugger, he wanted to keep playing, but there was no way. We were all running around, pointing at him, going look at that.
"I was so queasy I couldn't look. It looked like he'd been bitten by a shark."
Sea Eagles captain Jamie Lyon saw it and told field-goal hero Trent Hodkinson it wasn't suitable for his innocent eyes.
Other players, from both sides, looked like they wanted to run for the hills.
Luck wasn't howling in agony. Instead, he was eerily quiet. Like he was in shock.
Parking at the back of Brookvale is nightmarishly tight at the best of times and when the ambulance finally made its 15-point turn, Luck was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.
"I didn't see it myself but Killer [Lyon] did," Hodkinson said. "He just kind of spun around and said 'Whoa!' and told me to look the other way.
"It sounded pretty full-on, the Warriors blokes were freaking out."
Warriors officials and players were lining up to see the photographs in the dressing room. They were adamant the pictures were too nauseating to be viewed by the public.
The Kiwis were also keeping under wraps the reason for the majority of them, Mannering included, boasting beards bushy enough to do Ned Kelly proud.
"Aw, um I can't speak for the other guys," Mannering said.
But you're the captain. You're supposed to speak for the other guys.
"I've just got a beard because, well, I've just got a beard."
So it's a mere coincidence it looks like none of you have shaved since the Warriors entered the competition in 1995?
"Yeah, maybe," Mannering grinned. He then shuffled off to take a squiz at the photo of Luck's leg. He looked ready to bring up his lunch all over again.
seems like Luck was the only one not a woose...
he couldn't possibly back up next week...infection a possibility...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hot Pies and Mustard