New Zealand Warriors are keeping their fingers crossed as they wait for the results of Nathaniel Roache’s scans. The Warriors hooker went down in the 65th minute during their clash against Penrith after attempting to sidestep.
Roache was forced from the field after collapsing, with the club’s medical staff suspecting the injury to be a torn ACL, which if confirmed, will see Roache’s season come to an end.
This will not be the promising youngster’s first stint on the sidelines, with Roache having suffered a number of injuries in his career already. After his debut season, Roache suffered a torn Achilles in 2017, missing a large chunk of the 2017 season, before sitting out the whole of the following year due to surgery on a lumbar disc injury.
"We have got an orthopaedic surgeon in the dressing room and two very experienced doctors, and they are saying potentially it's a ACL," Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said.
"We won't know exactly until we have had scans done of it."
The game continued to turn sour for the Warriors with a 19-18 golden point loss against Penrith seeing them suffer their ninth loss of the season.
With only two minutes left in the game, the Warriors led Penrith 16-12 but an 80-metre runaway try from Penrith’s Brent Naden saw the Panthers take the lead. A penalty from the Warriors forced golden point but they were unable to hold on, with James Maloney winning the game for the Panthers through a field goal.
The Warriors now sit in 12th position and face a stretch of three away games over the coming weeks. They face a tough road ahead with a potentially season-ending injury looming over Roache’s head and 10 games remaining in their season, nine of which where they will face teams currently sitting inside the top eight.
As a Warriors fan, I know this kid has been rated really highly by the club. He’s been expected to take over Issac Luke and play hooker full time but fitness and injuries let him down. I personally always thought he wasn’t that great and slightly overrated and that’s why I’m glad we resigned Karl Lawton. But surely it’s gotten to that point now where he has had 3 major injuries and serious amounts of time off the field. It’s about time we give up on that situation and look for an answer else where. Obviously Issac Luke is getting older and less his old self and it’s going to be an issue at the club. From the start of next season I’d release Roache and Luke and sign a Hooker to compete with Lawton for the starting spot. That player I’d be going for is Danny Levi. Before his injury the Knights weren’t exactly that keen on him and he was looking for offers then he played a month of footy really well and then his injury. I think like Issac Luke he plays his a lot of Mana and pride which is great. He plays above his weight and brings his best each week and that’s what you want. He would be cheaper than Luke (definitely) and on the same coin as Roache is on now. Surely throw him a long term deal and offer him starting minutes and he won’t say no (4 years, 350k).
It’s probably a good chance, as he’s an NZ player by birth.
Also as Newcastle is negotiating with one of the Brailey brothers.
However, if Newcastle miss on Brailey, it will be up to Levi . Whether he wants to stay or not? Especially as he wasn’t really wanted before this season & it appears he isn’t wanted there after this season.
I think a few other clubs may be interested though.
Don’t want Katoa back do they? I think Penrith won’t re-sign him after this season. Second rower/ lock Kenny is already better than him at hooker & tackles all day.