Warriors and Bulldogs rocked as brutal news about Tohu Harris and Max King comes to light
The forwards are both integral to their side's NRL finals hopes in 2024.
The NRL finals hopes of both the Warriors and Bulldogs have taken a major hit, following injuries to key forwards Tohu Harris and Max King. The news is particularly brutal for Warriors captain Harris, who is set to miss the remainder of the season due to a chronic wrist injury.
Harris has been playing through the pain of the wrist injury for the majority of the year, despite missing four games for the New Zealand side in the middle of the season. The veteran Kiwi international did make a brief return but was below his influential best for Andrew Webster's side when he did take the field.
The 32-year-old was named to play the Bulldogs in round 18 but was a late withdrawal from the controversial golden point defeat, with the club enjoying a bye in round 19. But Harris and the Warriors have now come to the decision that the veteran forward will undergo surgery on the wrist injury, meaning he won't feature again this season.
It's a huge blow for the Warriors' faint finals hopes in 2024, with Webster's men currently 12th on the ladder and facing a tricky run home that includes four games out of seven against teams currently in the top-eight. Webster's men came within one win of making the NRL grand final last season and looked to have strengthened their squad in 2024 but injuries to key players such as Harris, Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, plus a dip in for the likes of Addin Fonua-Blake have hit the Warriors hard.
Tohu Harris has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery for a chronic wrist injury 🤕
Details: https://t.co/ubCLCv6XGS pic.twitter.com/CtszPHt65u— NRL (@NRL) July 16, 2024
Tohu Harris and Max King both sidelined with wrist injuries
The Bulldogs are also set to be without arguably their most influential forward King for six weeks, with scans revealing the Canterbury prop has suffered a fractured wrist. King played through the pain of a wrist fracture earlier in the season but the NRL Physio confirmed that his latest injury requires surgery that looks set to rule him out until round 26 at the earliest.
Max King has been ruled out for the next 6 weeks after scans revealed a wrist fracture that required surgery.
Played through a wrist fracture earlier in the season - obviously the damage this time round was even too significant for Zeus to ignore.— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 15, 2024
King reportedly suffered his latest wrist injury in Canterbury's dramatic golden point win over the Warriors. The Bulldogs initially hoped their talismanic prop would not be sidelined for too long but the club's footy boss Phil Gould confirmed recently that King had consulted a specialist and would require corrective surgery.
The front-rower has been a virtual ever-present in the Dogs' forward pack this season, averaging 124 running metres and tackling at over 95 per cent efficiency in 15 games. But King's injury adds to the list of players sidelined for Canterbury in recent weeks, including Jaeman Salmon, Ryan Sutton, Josh Addo-Carr, Drew Hutchison and Blake Taaffe.
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The Bulldogs are currently fifth on the ladder after what has been an outstanding season so far for Cameron Ciraldo's side, who face a crunch clash away to North Queensland on Sunday evening. The Bulldogs have nine wins from 16 games and still have one bye to come, with finals footy very much in their grasp. The loss of King will certainly test the club's depth in their middle forwards ahead of a decent run home that also includes matches against Brisbane (away), Canberra (home), St George Illawarra (away), the Dolphins (home), Warriors (away), Manly (home) and North Queensland (home) again.
