injuryupdate
07-08-2004, 01:36 PM
Billy Slater isn't on the injury list because apparently he is not in any doubt for the remaining games for the Storm. However, after the Storm's loss to the Dragons, coach Craig Bellamy admitted that Billy needed groin surgery and was waiting for the end of the season for this, and would therefore miss the Kangaroo tour.
I didn't see the game on Friday night football, but at the Storm-Roosters game a week before, Billy Slater was almost a liability for the Storm as he refused to take the ball to the line, being obsessed with passing it to Matt Geyer whenever he received the ball on a kick return. Given he has scored tries from kick returns this year and on a good day is much more likely to evade tackles that Geyer, this seemed a strange tactic. I can only guess that he is also carrying another injury (like a rib cartilage) that is getting needled up but he is afraid of getting crunched in a tackle. I would be surprised if he was avoiding contact from a groin problem.
It is a pity that the Storm need to desperately win their next few games to have a good assault on the Premiership. If the Storm were in the top 3 currently, I'm sure Slater would have a few weeks off before the finals and then hopefully come back in the devastating form he was in during the Origin series.
On the other hand, if he is carrying a rib injury or something similar, he is lucky he plays in Melbourne as the media are much less likely to smoke out the injury details if he is trying to keep it quiet.
I didn't see the game on Friday night football, but at the Storm-Roosters game a week before, Billy Slater was almost a liability for the Storm as he refused to take the ball to the line, being obsessed with passing it to Matt Geyer whenever he received the ball on a kick return. Given he has scored tries from kick returns this year and on a good day is much more likely to evade tackles that Geyer, this seemed a strange tactic. I can only guess that he is also carrying another injury (like a rib cartilage) that is getting needled up but he is afraid of getting crunched in a tackle. I would be surprised if he was avoiding contact from a groin problem.
It is a pity that the Storm need to desperately win their next few games to have a good assault on the Premiership. If the Storm were in the top 3 currently, I'm sure Slater would have a few weeks off before the finals and then hopefully come back in the devastating form he was in during the Origin series.
On the other hand, if he is carrying a rib injury or something similar, he is lucky he plays in Melbourne as the media are much less likely to smoke out the injury details if he is trying to keep it quiet.