Bulldogs star Viliame Kikau will have surgery to fix a complex fracture in his finger, which could cause him to miss up to six weeks of play.
Although Kikau participated in the entire 80 minutes of Canterbury’s thrilling victory over St George Illawarra last week, Bulldogs manager Phil Gould said the player had sustained “a horrific complex fracture of his ring finger.”
The Fijian international, who has been one of the NRL’s best back-row players this year, could miss four to six weeks of time due to injury, depending on how well Monday’s procedure goes. Given that Canterbury’s star acquisition was only able to play in nine games the previous season due to a torn pectoral, the injury is a major setback.
The Bulldogs, who are ranked tenth on the ladder, will play Newcastle on Friday in the seventh spot. They will then play the Eels, Roosters, Sharks, and Warriors. Within the following six weeks, the club will have two of its three byes.
The news that Egan Butcher will miss the remainder of the season due to an ACL rupture sustained during the Tricolours’ 44-16 victory against the Raiders on Saturday has dealt a blow to the Roosters’ forward pack as well.
Later this week, Butcher will have surgery, after which he will begin therapy.
Dylan Brown, a playmaker for Parramatta, describes head coach Brad Arthur’s firing last week as “unexpected” and “unfair” due to a run of subpar games.
The Eels’ seventh loss in eight games, a 42-26 defeat to the Rabbitohs on Saturday night, concluded a challenging and discouraging week for the team, according to Brown. The players took ownership of the outcomes that ultimately resulted in Arthur’s 11-season run at the club ending.
As adults, things do happen that we would like not to,” Brown remarked. We’re talking about Brad here, and it was unexpected what happened. It’s heartbreaking to see him go since many of us are really close to Brad.
“It’s disappointing that he left like that, especially given the time of year.” Although we are saddened, we must move on and see results since there are fans waiting for us to perform. Brad wasn’t going to perform on the field, it’s us players that have to.
