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If there was any doubt over the toughness of footy players, it took just half an hour of the season opener at Parramatta to dispel the notion that the game has gone soft.
Melbourne superstar Cameron Munster had the first look-away moment of the year, suffering a compound fracture to his ring finger in the first half of the Storm’s win over the Eels, causing him to leave the contest.
Though Munster returned to the game after a series of painkilling injections, it was later confirmed that he had undergone surgery on returning to Victoria and will miss the next two or three weeks.
Xavier Coates, who injured his shoulder in the second half of the game, will also miss two weeks although scans revealed that his SC injury was a sprain and nothing more serious.
Speaking to media in the sheds after his side’s 16-12 golden point win, Munster revealed the horror of the injury as it happened.
“I was felt my finger numb when I got it in that tackle with (Clint) Gutho,” he said. “I thought ‘that doesn’t feel right’. I look down and there’s a bit of bone and a bit of shock hit me. I didn’t have much of an emotion until I got off and the doc told me I’d need a needle. I’d much rather the injury because I hate needles.
“I bumped it a couple of times in the second half in tackles and it was a bit wincy, but lucky enough I had the needles to help with the pain.”
Munster did show the extent of the injury to the waiting media, but thankfully declined to allow photos.
“It was two (numbing) needles and it’s a bit yucky at the moment,” he added. “You’re asking the wrong person (about surgery). I’ve dislocated a finger (in the past), but not a compound.
“I was a bit surprised when I saw it, I’ve never seen bone sticking out before and I hate needles, I was screaming like a ten-year-old kid when they were needling me up.”
Craig Bellamy was impressed with his half’s heart to keep on going, and revealed that his medical team were at sixes and sevens to work out what had happened.
“I actually didn’t see him come off the field,” said the coach. “They said ‘it’ll be five minutes’, then it was going to be half time, then we got a message saying he won’t be coming back on at all. It was all a bit mixed up there for a while.
“There was a bit of confusion on how bad it was, but he got back on there and showed a lot of ticker.
“He’s broken the bone through the skin, so he’ll need an operation. He’s pretty brave to take the injection, they taped it up and he finished the game for us.
“Hopefully he can have it earlier in the week and we’ve got a longer turnaround, but I’m not quite sure so I’ll speak to the doctor and the physio.”
He played on, though Munster admitted he was not at full tilt given the problems he was having with the pain.
“I tried to pass it a little more,” he explained. “I probably didn’t run as much as I’d like to after it.
“It was still sore at times, even though I had numbing needles in the finger. I feel it was alright. There were times where I needed to inject myself a little bit more, I was a passer trying to distribute the ball rather than using my running game.”
Despite the horror injury, Munster said he was hopeful of turning out next week for the Storm’s home opener against the Bulldogs.
“(Next week) is the aim, but I’ll have to see how it goes tomorrow, the numbing needles are still going a good job at the moment. It’ll be interesting to see how I wake up tomorrow, hopefully it doesn’t get infected.
“If I’m only going to be 60% or 70% I’m not going to push it, I’ll make sure I’m 100% before I go out again.”
Munster was not the only one to go down injured: Young Tonumaipea had a series of complaints and Xavier Coates left early with a shoulder problem. He will miss the next few weeks at a minimum.
“There were guts everywhere from our team,” said Munster. “Young (Tonumaipea) had a bit gash on his eye, cramps and an ankle problem as well. The team dug deep tonight and we got the points.”
The prognosis on Coates, according to Bellamy, was bad.
“I’m not sure about long term, but he’ll probably miss a couple of weeks,” he said. “I thought he’d done something to his AC, but they tell me it’s his SC, that’s a new injury to me in the shoulder, I don’t know what the SC is.
“But he played on there for five minutes, so a gutsy performance by him as well. I’d imagine that he won’t be playing for a couple of weeks at best.”