The North Queensland Cowboys have confirmed a season-ending ACL injury for outside back Tom Chester, while providing a timeline for Jason Taumalolo’s pre-season return from foot surgery.
Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer >
Chester copped the ACL rupture in training last week and will miss the entire 2025 campaign.
Having also suffered an ACL injury early in 2023, it’s a brutal outcome for the 23-year-old local product.
Chester has made 12 NRL appearances, including five last season.
Taumalolo, 31, had surgery earlier this month after suffering a Lisfranc injury while playing for Tonga in the Pacific Championships.
He isn’t due to return to training until early next month and the club will assess his timeline for a return to action then.
READ MORE
‘Bad business’: Real reason for playmaker’s exit to rival Sydney club — Transfer Centre
LIVE: Raiders set to win six-team race in huge coup; unwanted Tigers half tipped to join rivals
The extraordinary honour roll of Australian Schoolboys rugby league representatives
SEIBOLD OPENS UP ON DCE, TURBO
Anthony Seibold has opened up on Daly Cherry-Evans’ future and the potential for Tom Trbojevic to replace him in Manly’s halves when he hangs up the boots.
Cherry-Evans has put plans to play on in 2026 on hold and wait to see how the 2025 season plays out, before making a call on his future.
The change of heart has Manly planning for life after their captain and halfback, with Trbojevic in line to switch to five-eighth, Lehi Hopoate to play fullback and Luke Brooks to shift to the No.7 jersey when Cherry-Evans retires.
While some believe Cherry-Evans is holding the club to ransom, given they need to set aside money for him if he does play on and will miss out on recruiting players if he calls time, Seibold believes his skipper has earnt that right.
“His preparation is outstanding so we’ll give him that opportunity to pause and take a breath,” Seibold told 2GB’s Wide World of Sports radio.
MORE NRL NEWS
CLOCK TICKING: DCE decision and delicate chat with hero in Seibold’s title push
COACHING CONTENDERS: Premiership winners, rising stars and exiles
FREE AGENCY LIVE: Tigers set to release Bateman to sign with NRL rivals
“We’ve got some ideas about what we do post-Chez but I just want to really stay in the moment, enjoy the time we’ve got with Chez, he’ll be ready to perform consistently as well as he has the last couple of seasons.
“We allow him to have a good think about that. I’ve had some private discussions with Chez, I won’t talk about that publicly but he’s turning 36.
“But I feel his last couple of seasons have been productive ones and we’ve got all our focus on 2025 and you allow the management to think about 2026 and beyond that.”
Dragons confirm signing of Atkinson | 00:30
With 93 tries and 772 points in 329 games for the Sea Eagles, Cherry-Evans will leave a massive void when he retires.
However, Seibold is confident Trbojevic can make a successful switch to the halves if the opportunity arises.
“I think Turbo can play any position in the backline,” Seibold said.
“He’s a super talented guy, really diligent and we saw what Turbo did playing for Australia during the off season, playing in the centres, and we’ve seen what he’s done for Manly at fullback.
“I think he could play six but he’ll be our fullback in 2025.”
Discussion about this post