Sharks star sweating on scans for an ankle injury
Sharks prop Toby Rudolf left Leichhardt Oval in a moon boot and on crutches, with the fan favourite fearing he’s suffered a syndesmosis injury as the club counts the cost of a surprising loss to the Wests Tigers.
Rudolf came off 15 minutes into the second half as a result of a John Bateman tackle where the Englishman swung around and landed on the back of his legs, but the Sharks star says it was just an “unfortunate” moment.
He’ll go in for scans today, with Cronulla also sweating on the fitness of Royce Hunt who injured his calf while warming up to come on in the first half, while Dale Finucane failed an HIA.
“They’re saying it’s a possible syndesmosis, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” Rudolf said.
“I’ve booted it up as a precaution. It didn’t feel great, but we’ll see what happens.
“It happened on my last run of the game. I had my legs taken out by John Bateman, and it was one of those unfortunate tackles in footy and I pulled up a bit sore.
“I’ve never done this injury before so it’s hard to know what it’s meant to feel like, but all the signs aren’t too great with how it’s feeling.”
Nothing went right for the Sharks on Saturday night, with their two-match winning streak to start the season snapped by the hosts who were simply brilliant and thoroughly deserved the 32-6 result.
“It was one of those nights. We have to look back and inward on ourselves,” Rudolf said.
“There’s so much improvement in us still, and when we get things right, we think we can beat anyone.
“You have to give credit where it’s due because the Tigers were unreal. If they play like that every week then they’re going to trouble some teams because they were running so hard and playing for each other.”
There were plenty of positive signs for Benji Marshall who would have been chuffed to record his first win as coach, and he’ll chalk up plenty more if skipper Api Koroisau continues to lead from the front.
The dynamic hooker set up two tries and should’ve had one of his own, with Koroisau dominating the contest despite being in all sorts of discomfort during the post-game press conference.
“A lot of people don’t know, but this guy next to me was battling heavy gastro before the game and could hardly walk and had no energy,” Marshall said.
“For him to punch out what he did in the game shows how much it meant to his teammates.
“That’s why he’s the skipper.”
