Round 1
South Sydney Rabbitohs 20 l. Sydney Roosters 34

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Wing to miss three months of football
Mon March 17, 2008
Source: www.souths.com.au

Rabbitohs halfback Craig Wing will undergo an arthroscopic shoulder reconstruction tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) to repair damage to his left shoulder suffered during the Rabbitohs opening game of the season on Friday night.

Wing will miss the next three months of football after consultations with shoulder specialists today determined he would require surgery. Wing has suffered damage to the labrum, two ligaments and muscle tissue.

"I'm shattered that I need surgery, but to look on the bright side I'm told I should only miss three to four months of footy instead of what could have been five months, which is a positive," Wing said.

"I'm going to work hard to rehabilitate the injury after the surgery and make sure I'm 100% fit for a return mid-season.

"We have some great young talent in our squad and I'm sure they can do the job. These young guys did a great job getting the team to the finals last season so they have that experience which is only going to help them now.

"Errol (Alcott) and the Souths medical staff have been outstanding through all of this. Their treatment of me so far has been first class and it fills me full of confidence that the rehabilitation process will be just as professional and they will help me get back on the field.

"I'd like to thank all of the Rabbitohs Members and fans who've offered me support since the incident on Friday night and I'll be doing everything I can to get back on the field and help the boys win our share of games this year."

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are the most successful Club in Rugby League. Established in 1908, the South Sydney Club has won 20 first grade premierships and provided 62 internationals for the Australian side, and have famously worn their cardinal red and myrtle green colours since inception. In 1925, South Sydney was dubbed 'The Pride of the League' and the Rabbitohs are known as this to this day. The rebirth of the Rabbitohs began on 7 June, 2006 through a new partnership between Russell Crowe, Peter Holmes a Court and the 8000 Members of the Club.

News sent by: www.souths.com.au


Wing injured as Roosters stamp their mark
Sat March 15, 2008
It took only one game this season for their to be controversy and for a team to stand up to be the biggest challengers to current premiers Melbourne Storm.

Sydney Roosters stamped their authority for the season ahead leading 24-4 at half-time and extended that lead to 34-4 ten minutes into the second half before they took their foot off the pedal and Souths led by boom superstar Issac Luke brought some respect back to the scoreboard.

The pre-match discussions created plenty of controversy with the Rabbitohs claiming that the Roosters were encouraging their fans not to attend the match and instead watch it at Easts Leagues Club, which had a massive effect on the crowd being just under 30,000 instead of being closer to 40,000 as it should have been.

More drama followed in the match as big name Souths recruit Craig Wing who returned home to Redfern after eight seasons enjoying the high life at Bondi was injured inside the first ten minutes, to which Souths coach Jason Taylor claims was a cheap shot, but refused to say it cost his team victory.

Taylor said, "It was a cheap shot I don't think there was any doubt about that.

"They held him up in the tackle and then the other guy came at him. It's not illegal but teams are coached to hold up the player in the tackle and I think that is something that needs to be eradicated from the game. It's about fair play and sportsmanship.

"It impacted upon us but at no stage did we lose that game because Craig Wing wasn't there, the Roosters were too good for us on the night."

Wing is expected to miss 12-14 weeks due to the tackle.

The Rabbitohs came into the 2008 season with huge expectations after finishing 7th last year and would have been hoping for a big showing in the opening match of the season against their arch-rivals.

Souths co-captain Roy Asotasi said, "It was pretty disappointing.

"We didn't really do what we had trained to during the game and we need to fix that but credit to the Roosters they were the better team."

The Roosters were at their brilliant and high flying best shutting out the Rabbitohs early on and building up a commanding lead before putting up the shutters.

Talented youngster Setaimata Sa scored the opening try of the season in the 4th minute and Nate Myles crossed in the 9th minute for the Roosters to lead 12-0.

Nathan Merritt brought Souths back into the match with a try in the 19th minute, but two tries to Anthony Tupou in the 26th and 32nd minutes put the Bondi boys up 22-4, which remained the score until half-time.

The Roosters extended their lead eight minutes after the half-time break with Shaun Kenny-Dowall crossing over and Sa scored his second try moments later for the Roosters to lead 34-4.

Souths scored three tries in 12 minutes to put some respect back into the scoreline through Yileen Gordon, a second try to Merritt and Germaine Paulson.

In the end the scoreline flattered Souths as the Roosters shape themselves up as the team to beat along with Melbourne.

Meanwhile, in Toyota Cup action the Roosters edged out Souths in a close match winning 14-10.

Toyota Cup
Sydney Roosters 14 (A Cherrington, S Waqa, G Teo tries; B Cronin goal) def
South Sydney Roosters (E Pettybourne try; C Sandow 3 tries)

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