There’s 60 days to go until season 2020 kicks off and while the majority of the nib Newcastle Knights are pushing themselves and their fitness to grab ahold of positions, there’s some who are fighting battles of their own with injury.
Starford To’a, Mason Lino and Beau Fermor have all been nursing injuries heading into 2020 but aren’t expected to miss too much time.
Young outside back To’a is recovering from a finger injury but in good news for Knights fans, is expected to be back training with the side at full health sooner rather than later.
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“We got some good news this morning regarding Star,” said Head of Physical Performance Balin Cupples.
“He will get the wire out of his finger this Friday which is a little bit ahead of schedule.
“Starting next week he’ll go straight back into skills. He’ll do all the positional work and then we’ll build through some contact progressions next week to have him re-join the full squad at full health training by next Saturday.”
Lino suffered a shoulder injury in the final round of 2019, but is progressing well and although his expected return date isn’t as soon as To'a’s, Cupples expects he’ll be back in time for the trial games.
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“Mase is a little bit closer to footy than Beauy [Fermor] is,” he said.
“Mase continues to integrate into the main group. The coaches have been asking questions, ‘when’s he back?’ which is great.
“The pressure is now on Mase to continue that trajectory he’s had all through his shoulder reconstruction and in the next two to three weeks we should see Mase get through those contact progressions and re-join the full squad.”
For the rest of the squad, they’re continuing being pushed to their limits with coaches keeping the upcoming trial games in the forefront of their minds.
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“As planned we’ve raised the intensity again,” Cupples said.
“It’s a really important phase for us at this time of pre-season where you’re three to four weeks away from Nines and trial footy.
“We’re just fine-tuning a few things, but the boys definitely know that pre-season is still going that’s for sure.”
