In-form Souths fullback Jye Gray is facing a stint on the sidelines after suffering an AC joint injury in the Rabbitohs’ heart stopping two point loss to Canberra in Perth on Saturday afternoon.
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Gray was tackled heavily by Raiders’ middle Morgan Smithies and winger Jed Stuart in the first quarter of an hour of the clash, resting his arm in a makeshift sling made by his jersey as he left the field in obvious pain.
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Souths’ coach Wayne Bennett said he was expecting to be without the rising star for at least a few weeks.
“It’s an AC joint so it’s pretty sore,” Bennett said.
“I’ve got to assume it will be two or three weeks at least.”
When Gray left the field Latrell Mitchell moved back to fullback, with Tallis Duncan slotting into Mitchell’s left centre spot and Lachlan Hubner coming onto the right edge.
Bennett said the loss of Gray was a tough one for the team but he offered no excuses.
“It doesn’t help, he’s such a vital player in the team in such a vital position,” Bennett said.
“It’s just not something you replace easily, although we’ve got Latrell who is such a wonderful player there but then you have got to replace Latrell in the centres, so it does throw you out a bit and I don’t think that helped us.
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“It is what it is and we’ve got to be big enough to overcome that.”
The inform Gray is likely to follow Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh as potential Queensland fullbacks to spend long periods on the sidelines in the lead up to State of Origin Game 1 on May 27 in Sydney.
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Meanwhile, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was proud his team hung on in a ‘crazy’ game that saw them lead 24-4 at halftime, only to give up 18 unanswered points to start the second stanza and survive a second late fightback from Souths.
“That’s a good way to describe it, crazy,” Stuart said.
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“They’ve got a very classy team of attack. They got us a couple of times in the second half.
“Credit to the boys how they did hang in there. We just need to win today. It was ugly, but I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty.
Stuart said the team’s winless streak prior to this victory was uncharted territory for some of his squad.
“I’ve been giving them credit all week, about the spirit they’ve got in them, the energy they’ve still got in them after a four-game losing streak.
“People don’t understand or see it, that because we’ve got so many younger players, they’ve really only started over the last 12-18months, they’ve never been in that position before.
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“Which is why I’ve tried to create less pressure. We haven’t changed anything in our training. We’ve been really solid in our preparation in regards but just not getting it done.
“The younger blokes, the boys that were playing last year, they’ve only been winning three out of four, four out of four so it’s been a fine balance in regards to the human behaviour, the emotions the kids are feeling when they’re lacking a bit of confidence.
“The one thing I know is they’ll keep fighting for the jumper and for one another.”
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