Canterbury’s NRL premiership aspirations could be rocked by an ankle syndesmosis injury to Ben Barba sustained in Friday’s facile 40-12 win over struggling Parramatta.
Barba limped off just 10 minutes into the game after damaging his right ankle scoring the Bulldogs’ third try to put a dampener on a good night at the office for Des Hasler’s men.
“He’s probably got what they call a syndesmosis and we’ll know the full story tomorrow when he has a scan but it will be weeks,” Hasler said.
Canterbury were helped to a comfortable win by some hapless defending by the cellar-dwelling Eels who look destined to claim the wooden spoon for a second successive year.
Although the absence of Barba didn’t affect them too much, losing the reigning Dally M Medallist for a long period would be a big blow to their hopes of a top-four finish.
There have been cases of syndesmosis injuries keeping players sidelined for up to three months – which is what happened to Sydney Roosters skipper Anthony Minichiello in 2009.
The win took Canterbury to within a point of fourth-placed Manly, who play on Monday, but Hasler said it was too early to rule Barba out for the year.
“If he was out for a couple of weeks and we were near the end of the season it would be a big concern, but we still have six weeks to go,” he said.
“The medical team had a look at it, they did what they had to do and put it in a boot. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Veteran Sam Perrett filled in at fullback for the remaining 70 minutes at ANZ Stadium and Hasler said he would almost certainly remain there while Barba is out.
“Sammy is a pretty logical replacement. He has played a lot at one and is very experienced,” he said.
“He is a pretty cool customer.”
The Bulldogs ran in seven tries with Parramatta grabbing two consolations late in the game to avoid a second successive shut out after last week’s 14-0 loss to Canberra.
But the defeat was their ninth in a row and their cause was not helped by an embarrassing opening 10 minutes when they conceded three soft tries, kicked out on the full and also botched a short kick-off attempt from the opening whistle.
Beleaguered coach Ricky Stuart said his side are at a stage of their season where they have to take gambles.
But if they do, it will be without injured skipper Jarryd Hayne who could miss the remainder of the season with his troublesome hamstring injury.
Stuart said it would be wrong to rush Hayne back, but would attempt to get him back if Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens wants him in his World Cup squad which will depart for the UK in October.
“He might be able to be back for two or three games,” Stuart said.
“I’ve got to make a decision then if Tim wants him on the World Cup trip at the end of the year then we’ll start working him to get fit for that and get him some game time.
“If not I’ll make a decision on whether or not I’m going to play him again this year, but he’s still a couple of weeks away.”
Cameron
Roar Guru
The players do look like they've given up though. So who's to blame? Coaches always get the blame but the buck has got to stop with the players at some stage. I guess when Sticky finally assembles the team he wants then maybe we'll find out who was the real problem. Until then...
Cameron
Roar Guru
Damn Straight! ;)
Meesta Cool
Guest
Not sure, but weren't the Parra fans screaming for Steven Kearney's sacking last year and they are doing even worse??.. something NQR in Parra Land. Regardless of the players available a coach should be able to field a team that can hold their position and TACKLE.. I have seen neither attribute from the Eels this year.
Zaccaaa
Guest
Worser then the dogs of 1935 Dogs for and against in 1935 - 113 - 643 Eels for and against in 2013 with 6 games remaining - 246 - 517
Matt
Guest
With Storm, Knights, Manly, Broncos, Dragons, Tigers to come, not much joy there. Surely they'll at least get close if not win a few against the other teams outside the top 8.
Matt
Guest
What did I say, Parra are a free 40 points! Although they had to ruin it by falling apart in the last 10 :)
Raugeee
Guest
What about giving a Parra immortal like Kenny a shot at coaching. Good thing for the Eels is that they can't get any worse.
Raugeee
Guest
And they may have won except for an unfortunate penalty on Fui Fui Moi Moi
bribie eel
Guest
After a lifetime of being an eels tragic [since the Ken Thornett days ] I can't even watch a full eels game. Even in the seventies when we were battling we at least kept trying but now we don't even seem to know where to line up on the field, The stupid kickoffs last night are things that not even school kids do .Get back to basics and stop all these stupid newspaper statements like Allgood /Matia drivel. Lets start playing football
Andy
Guest
Parramatta could learn a thing or two from the dogs. They went from being a mixed bag to a premiership contender by buying the majority of a premiership winning teams coaching staff.
eagleJack
Guest
Ricky really needs to start putting all his energy into the game at hand instead of getting caught up in media drivel like he did this week in relation to the Matai v Allgood "toughness" debate. All other coaches if asked a question about a game in 2 weeks would answer "we have the Bulldogs this week. That's all we are focussing on". If he doesn't have his mind on the job, then you can guarantee his players don't. And we are seeing this on the pitch, where his players look like they have never met each other before.
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
Dogs, I'll never attend another Parra game until they can put four wins in a row together. I could be waiting a very long time. This once great club is rotten to the core. When people ask me what team I support, my answer is prefaced with a chuckle. It's hard to believe they were in a grand final in 2009.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
I don't think I have ever seen a worse start at a game of footy than what Parra did. On the plus side, those first 3 tries were all scored right in front of me!
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
Parramatta are now officially the biggest joke in NRL history. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end up with the worst season for and against since the inception of the NRL. If Barba had stayed on the field last night, they would have put 70 points on them. I won't ever give up on them, but I am ashamed to be a Parramatta supporter.