Ahead of Round 7, Frank Ponissi, General Manager of Football for the Melbourne Storm, provided an update on the team’s injured players.
Two new names to the injured list were Tepai Moeroa and Tui Kamikamica in Round 6.
Regretfully, Kamikamica suffered a calf injury in the first few minutes of the Storm’s game at AAMI Park against the Bulldogs. Three games are anticipated to be missed by the Fijian international, who should be back in Round 10.
Moeroa had a back injury and had to return to Melbourne after winning the man-of-the-match award in Round 5 against his feeder club, the North Sydney Bears. The forward, who is resting this week to prevent escalation, will be evaluated once more the next week and might be selected again.
Sua Fa’alogo, a rising talent from Victoria, will resume full training this week after missing the first few games of the NRL season due to a shoulder injury sustained earlier this year.
“He’ll make his return to play next weekend, not this weekend coming, but the following weekend, which is going to be a real good boost.” said Ponissi.
Up-and-comer, Ammaron ‘AJ’ Gudgeon will almost make his long-awaited return to the field through the NSW Ron Massey Cup this weekend following a string of shoulder injuries that him out of contention.
“He’s had a lot of rotten luck. Last year, after his first season and undergoing a shoulder reconstruction, he came back…then you wouldn’t believe, he did his other shoulder,” Ponissi shared.
He hasn’t played in a full year—that was April of last year—but this weekend marks his comeback to the game, which is amazing.
“Every boy is incredibly happy and proud of him. At one of the team meetings the other day, we held a small ceremony for him, watched a brief film, and went through his journey over the previous twelve months.
“So happy for AJ to have this weekend.”
