Paul Kent blasts World Cup schedule amid ugly NRL injury crisis

NRL reporter Paul Kent has blasted the international rugby league schedule has a number of teams are battling to field full squads only five rounds into the season. The Rugby League World Cup took place in the UK last year with Australia defeating Samoa in the final at the end of November.

Many players finished their mandatory eight-week holiday early, while others only had five weeks of a break due to the international schedule. And the full rugby league schedule has now been called into question with a number of NRL teams struggling to field a full squad due to the number of injuries piling up.

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The Knights for round 3 put in a special exemption to allow a player from outside their 30-man squad to be listed after suffering a number of early injuries. The Bulldogs have also put in a request having 11 players sidelined for their encounter with the Rabbitohs this weekend.

While there are numerous reasons to why there have been a number of players sidelines, including the new concussion stand down protocol, NRL reporter Kent believes the international schedule has played a factor with stars not fit enough to start the season.

“The NRL has got to start to rethink its international schedule out of all of this, you talk about Canterbury, who have now gone and sought an exemption only five rounds in,” Kent said on NRL 360. "Only five rounds in, because in their 30-man squad they can’t find 21 jumpers. What was it, two weeks ago, Newcastle sought an exemption.

“Because we had the World Cup last year, and we have an international program that fills up all the months after the season now. And the players have to have eight weeks holiday according to the CBA, it cuts down on their pre-season which most people tend to believe leads to all these injuries."

However, Kent's call for a limited number of international games wasn't met with the same enthusiasm from NRL reporter Crawley. The Daily Telegraph reporter pointed to Samoa's success story at the World Cup as an example of just how important the international tournament has become.

“It’s not an eight-week program like the World Cup is, every time we have a World Cup, coaches know, players know, every single club is in the same predicament,” Crawley said.

“It is what it is, you can’t get rid of the World Cup, the game is growing at an international level, we need to be promoting it, not knocking it back and worrying about the self interests of clubs.”

Kent argued that maybe the Players' Association needs to argue players can't start the season with only five weeks preparations.

Roosters make Joseph Suaalii decision on fullback role

Another team figuring out an injury dilemma is the Roosters with James Tedesco sitting out due to concussion after receiving a high-shot in the game against Parramatta last week. Joseph Suaalii filled in for the premier fullback and put in a stellar performance after a turbulent week.

However Joey Manu has beaten teammate Suaalii in the race to replace Tedesco at fullback for the Sydney Roosters' NRL clash with Melbourne on Thursday. Suaalii has yet to run out at fullback in his young NRL career, something Manu has done on 10 previous occasions when Tedesco has been unavailable.

Utility Drew Hutchison keeps his spot in the centres to accommodate Manu's move.

The Storm welcome Jahrome Hughes back from suspension for the game, pushing promising rookie Jonah Pezet to the reserves.

Injury-plagued Canberra veteran Jarrod Croker has been named to play his first game since May in a boost to his bid to reach 300 NRL games.

with AAP

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