Matthew Head ACL injury

[jess]

Apparently tore his ACL at Kogarah today. Gone for the year. Could be the end of St George's brief run of no major injuries.

[budz]

Yep, id say so. And id also jump to the conclusion that they cant win the premiership anymore. It will take only 1 more major injury for the rest of the season, and with the likes of Barrett, Ryles, Gasnier and Bailey.......its safe to say at least one of them will be out during the finals.

[Danny]

They played ok this weekend without all their stars. It will be really interesting to see their run home this year.

Dragons keep face but lose Head
By Brad Walter
June 13, 2005
SMH

After spending last night at St George Leagues Club celebrating the Dragons' climb into the top eight and commiserating with halfback Mathew Head over his season-ending knee injury, Wes Naiqama was due back there early this morning for work.

Naiqama - one of eight members of St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown's 2002 Jersey Flegg side involved in yesterday's match, including North Queensland second-rower Steve Southern - supplements his meagre football income with a job at the leagues club.

But after scoring two tries in the Dragons' 34-4 win at Jubilee Oval, that may soon become a thing of the past for the 21-year-old Arncliffe product, as he is among several players close to finalising new contracts with the club.

"Hopefully I can sort that out before the end of the month," Naiqama said. "At the moment I work Mondays on the pokies and Wednesdays behind the bar just for a bit of extra money. I'm rostered to start at 8am tomorrow. It's pretty shitty, but I've got to do it.
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"It's been a tough couple of years with injuries but I'm happy to be playing first grade now and my main goal is just to play consistently because Nick Youngquest and Reece Simmonds are breathing down my neck for a wing spot."

Despite losing Head with a cruciate ligament tear in his right knee, the mood in the St George Illawarra camp was up-beat after their 28-0, second-half shut-out of the Cowboys.

With NSW Origin stars Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper, Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles watching from the grandstand, the Dragons demonstrated their outstanding depth to overcome injuries to Head and Shaun Timmins midway through the first half.

Timmins returned in the 45th minute to kickstart a five-try second-half blitz, but Brown received the bad news on Head soon after.

"He's gone for the year," Brown said. "I thought it was his ankle, because he hurt that earlier on, but someone came and told me in the second half that he had done his cruciate.

"It's a big loss, but probably the most pleasing thing about our last two wins is that we've lost players during the games in key spots and we got over it. He's a big blow because he's a big part of our team but Ben Hornby will fill in admirably, I'm sure. There's just a bit more pressure on him now."

Hornby, who started the match at five-eighth in place of Barrett, moved to halfback when Head left the field and the former Blues fullback said afterwards he felt more comfortable at first receiver.

Hooker Michael Ennis looked at home in the five-eighth role and turned in his best performance since joining the club from Newcastle to convince Brown to retain the pair as his halves for next Sunday's match against South Sydney.

"Our props and second-rowers stood up. Me and Benny started to strike up a bit of a combination in the second half and things came off for us," Ennis said.

Trailing 4-0 after an early try to rookie Cowboys winger Jason Barsley, St George Illawarra took the lead when Naiqama finished off a last-tackle movement in the 15th minute that featured 10 players handling, and Head converted from out wide.

But it wasn't until Ennis scored in the 51st minute and Naiqama crossed six minutes later for his second try after accepting a Hornby pass that rebounded off Dean Young's head that the Dragons took control of the match.

"The Cowboys had plenty [of players] out too, but I thought it was a pretty good all-round performance and the good thing for us was our defence," Brown said.

"I thought everyone contributed really well and our forwards did a good job.

"They only had Carl Webb missing [from the forwards] and I thought our guys stood up and matched them."

[injuryupdate]

It looks like it will be hard for anyone to win the Premiership other than the Broncos

[hhh]

Is that the white flag already!

[jess]

well, just as long as it's not the queenslanders who dominate tomorrow night in origin II!!