David Edwards
NormThe Loss of Gasnier the Sign of the End for the Dragons?
March 5th 2007 09:27
The NRL Trial matches held a massive shock this weekend after during St. George Illawarra’s Charity Shield match against the South Sydney Rabbbitohs the Dragons lost their star play Mark Gasnier to a chest muscle injury.
The injury, which was inflicted during a rountine tackle, turned out to be a torn pectoral muscle, will require surgery and as a result will keep Gasnier out of the squad for at least six months. This will means that looking very optimistically at Gasnier making his earliest comeback during the last games in the home and away season, and at worst will see the five-eighths not play a game during the 2007 season.
The major question that is on everybody’s lips is how will the Dragons now perform in 2007? After a stellar 2006 season, which saw them bundled out one game before the Grand Final to the Melbourne Storm, they been preparing all throughout the pre-season, and have been in many talks about how well they can go this season. However the problem is all their pre-season preparation has been focused around the five-eighths position and Mark Gasnier, which means their entire summer training has gone down the tubes.
First and foremost, they have a strong squad. With a number of key players, plus a number of great new recruits who have the ability to step up, on paper their squad is one of the best to enter the 2007 season. The problem is that they have been acclimatising Gasnier, and the rest of the squad, to the star player picking up the five-eighths role. Now that Gasnier is out of commission for at least the majority of the season, they will have to drastically change their playing strategy, and with two weeks to go before their first round match against the Gold Coast Titans, they do not have much time to put their new plan into attack.
Whilst we will not see an mirror image of the Newcastle Knights playing style, where they see to forfgfget how to play when their captain Andrew Johns is out of the line-up, the Dragons will dramatically suffer for the first few rounds. They have been constantly training with Gasnier in his new position, and now that he will probably won’t be performing in that role this season, means they have to change quickly, which means they will not perform at their best for at least three rounds.
But what about from round three onwards? Their squad is strong enough to bounce back from this, and they will easily be able to bounce back into fighting form. The question on everyone’s lips is who will take the now vacant five-eighths position. The Dragons second option, Matthew Head, has already been ruled out for the time being, recovering from knee surgery until at least round four. But there is talk from the club that Richie Williams will take the vacant spot until Head, or if that plan fails Gasnier later on in the season.
But until then, the best the Dragons can hope for is to stem the tide until they can come back from this latest set-back. It is just disappointing to see such a star player injured so badly with such a routine tackle, even before the first ball of the season is kicked.
Until next time, sports minds.
The injury, which was inflicted during a rountine tackle, turned out to be a torn pectoral muscle, will require surgery and as a result will keep Gasnier out of the squad for at least six months. This will means that looking very optimistically at Gasnier making his earliest comeback during the last games in the home and away season, and at worst will see the five-eighths not play a game during the 2007 season.
The major question that is on everybody’s lips is how will the Dragons now perform in 2007? After a stellar 2006 season, which saw them bundled out one game before the Grand Final to the Melbourne Storm, they been preparing all throughout the pre-season, and have been in many talks about how well they can go this season. However the problem is all their pre-season preparation has been focused around the five-eighths position and Mark Gasnier, which means their entire summer training has gone down the tubes.
First and foremost, they have a strong squad. With a number of key players, plus a number of great new recruits who have the ability to step up, on paper their squad is one of the best to enter the 2007 season. The problem is that they have been acclimatising Gasnier, and the rest of the squad, to the star player picking up the five-eighths role. Now that Gasnier is out of commission for at least the majority of the season, they will have to drastically change their playing strategy, and with two weeks to go before their first round match against the Gold Coast Titans, they do not have much time to put their new plan into attack.
Whilst we will not see an mirror image of the Newcastle Knights playing style, where they see to forfgfget how to play when their captain Andrew Johns is out of the line-up, the Dragons will dramatically suffer for the first few rounds. They have been constantly training with Gasnier in his new position, and now that he will probably won’t be performing in that role this season, means they have to change quickly, which means they will not perform at their best for at least three rounds.
But what about from round three onwards? Their squad is strong enough to bounce back from this, and they will easily be able to bounce back into fighting form. The question on everyone’s lips is who will take the now vacant five-eighths position. The Dragons second option, Matthew Head, has already been ruled out for the time being, recovering from knee surgery until at least round four. But there is talk from the club that Richie Williams will take the vacant spot until Head, or if that plan fails Gasnier later on in the season.
But until then, the best the Dragons can hope for is to stem the tide until they can come back from this latest set-back. It is just disappointing to see such a star player injured so badly with such a routine tackle, even before the first ball of the season is kicked.
Until next time, sports minds.
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