The Manly Sea Eagles have confirmed that fullback Reuben Garrick has suffered a fractured back following the club's loss to the New Zealand Warriors last week.
The confirmation by the clubs comes after scans revealed that he endured a fractured transverse process in his back. According to NRL Physio, thankfully, the injury means he is little to no threat of spinal cord or nerve damage.
Whilst the club didn't confirm he would miss the rest of the season and only revealed he remains in doubt for the last two games against the Bulldogs and Wests Tigers, it is likely that he has played his last game this season.
The injury came after he was taken out by New Zealand Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad after retrieving a loose ball following Daly Cherry-Evans' field goal attempt being deflected.
โEveryone saw the tackle, people formulate their own views,โ Tony Mestrov, the Manly Sea Eagles CEO said via News Corp.
โThe proof is in the pudding. The rugby league community can form their own views given Reuben's injury.โ
Whilst Manly club officials and coach Anthony Seibold were frustrated that they weren't awarded a penalty, NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley said the officials made the right call in his weekly briefing. However, this has caused ARL Chairman Peter V'landys to hint that there could be a potential rule change for next season and beyond.
It is unknown who will come in for Garrick, who was filling in for the injured Tom Trbojevic at fullback, but the team list will be announced on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm. Also, it was previously reported today that Josh Schuster is set to be axed down to reserve grade for this weekend.
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Reuben Garrick is in doubt for the final 2 games of the season after suffering a transverse process fracture in his back. This can sound scary, but thankfully these fractures pose little to no threat of spinal cord/nerve injury. Pain management the main issue, but pain levels +++ pic.twitter.com/zqDFOVFkki
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 22, 2023
It looks look the “subjective” tackle has created a non subjective injury…..perhaps Annesley should advise parents who were undecided about allowing their kids to play rugby league that NRL have a “SUBJECTIVE” safety policy…absolutely gutless approach to hide a glaring referee mistake behind a technical ruling… Im sure the outcry would have been different had Garrick been wearing a different jersey!!