Source : ABC NEWS
Parramatta do not have any concerns with the handling of Mitchell Moses’s fitness in the NSW Blues set-up, as the Eels skipper faces a race against the clock to play before Game II of State of Origin.
Moses was named to start at five-eighth in Origin I but pulled up with a hamstring issue after the Blues’ penultimate training session and was replaced by Ethan Strange.
Canberra playmaker Strange had one of the best Origin debuts in recent memory as the Blues took a 1-0 lead in the series with a 22-20 win in Sydney on Wednesday.
Moses will not play for the Eels against Newcastle on Saturday but Parramatta coach Jason Ryles hopes his star playmaker will be back on deck for their clash with Canterbury the following Monday.
Blues coach Laurie Daley will name his team for Game II, played in Melbourne on June 17, after the Eels meet the Bulldogs and has indicated he will pick Moses.
But if Moses fails to play for the Eels, Daley may be forced to reconsider his squad.
“It’s quite minor actually … I don’t think it’ll be too long so we’ll just see how he progresses this week with his rehab,” Ryles said on Friday.
“(He could play against the Bulldogs) at a pinch. I’m not sure what Loz has in mind … that’s up to Laurie.
“Whatever they decide to do, there’s some good options there obviously, Mitchell and Nathan (Cleary) are two elite halves and the young kid Strange did really well so it’s a good problem to have.”
It is the second time in as many seasons Moses has gone into Blues camp only to be ruled out for club and state with a soft-tissue injury.
But Ryles said the trend was purely coincidental.
“I’d rather have Origin players and have that problem, so it’s got nothing to do with what they’re doing in camp,” Ryles said.
“We get a lot of feedback on what they do and the GPS, and that type of thing and there was nothing, it was just bad luck.”
To add to Ryles’s injury list, which now contains nine players, Jonah Pezet is also sidelined for the next month with a hamstring issue.
Prop Junior Paulo has been sent for knee surgery and will return later in the year with Jack Williams set to captain the Eels against the Knights.
“Junior has been playing with a meniscus tear for eight or 10 weeks so to get as far as he did was quite admirable,” Ryles said.
The 14th-placed Eels have conceded 379 points through the first 11 rounds in what represents the leakiest defensive record of any side at this point in the season since the 2002 North Queensland Cowboys.
AAP
