While he was an absentee from the Sharks recovery session at North Cronulla Surf Club earlier today, the news on Sharks five eighth James Maloney was positive after the NSW rep came from the field midway through the second half last night.
Maloney declined a kick at goal, handing the duties over to Chad Townsend, then came from the field during the win over the Roosters, citing groin tightness, with his night coming to a premature end as coach Shane Flanagan made the decision not to risk further damage to his star play maker.
However in some good news for the Sharks, Maloney underwent scans that revealed the injury to not be of a serious nature, with his name likely to be included in the NRL team list for the match against Newcastle when released later today.
After the Origin series and in considering his recent workload, Maloney will be given a couple of days off training to rest up and recuperate, hence why he was missing from recovery this morning.
As for his teammate Ricky Leutele, the Sharks centre is continuing his rehabilitation from an ankle sprain, one which could keep him sidelined for the Newcastle match.
Leutele is set to increase his training load over the coming days in a bid to be fit for Sunday, but the most probable outcome will see him sit out one more game before making himself available for the round 21 match on the Gold Coast.
In further injury news relating to the Sharks top squad, the other four Origin representatives came through the series and the Sharks clash with the Roosters unscathed and will be on deck for the game on Sunday.
While in relation to the extended squad and the boys playing for Newtown, Jordan Drew’s unlucky run with injury continues, with the centre/winger leaving the field in the early moments of the second half Jets win over the Bears with a shoulder injury.
Drew’s injury will be monitored and assessed by Sharks medical staff over the next few days.
Josh Cleeland, Junior Roqica and Jacob Gagan, three players to have battled injury in recent weeks, came through the Newtown game injury free.
The Sharks and Newtown teams to play the respective round 20 matches this weekend will be released at 5.00pm today.
