Jarome Luai’s hospital stay; full extent of Brian To’o’s knee damage revealed

“My weight is good, and nothing restricted me from eating. It was more so the fevers. But I’ll be good to go next Wednesday. I’ll be sweet.”

Luai said there would be no need for any padding on his chest. He even completed a light gym session on Monday, but only after stopping via the Tigers’ Concord base to attend a team meeting.

The bigger concern for NSW is To’o, which is why Blues coach Laurie Daley picked winger Jacob Kiraz as 18th man ahead of his Bulldogs teammate Matt Burton. If To’o misses out, Daley said he wanted to make sure Kiraz was fit and did not play for his club this weekend.

Like Luai, To’o is confident he will play after he was able to finish last Thursday’s game, an epic 8-6 win over the Bulldogs. He suffered the injury when tackled by Harry Hayes midway through the first half.

NSW doctor Nathan Gibbs said of To’o: “He’s got a lateral ligament tear in his knee, which at the moment isn’t too bad. It’s probably a grade two, but it’s manageable. If the game was tomorrow, I’d reckon he’d play. He wouldn’t be perfect, but he’d do it because he’s such a tough player.

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“[In] Origin II, he got the team match ball, even though he went into that game under an injury cloud, and on a modified program.

“We’ll manage Brian. He’ll definitely run Saturday, and might do some rehab running on Thursday.”

Gibbs added Cleary was sore after the loss in Perth, but had no concerns after Thursday’s win with the Panthers. Cleary said he was yet to attempt goal kicking since feeling his groin tighten during the captain’s run at Optus Stadium, and kicking across his body made him susceptible to aggravating the groin, compared to kicking straight in general play.

Meanwhile, Daley was happy for Josh Papalii to be called out of representative retirement for Queensland because of their Canberra links.

“I’ve watched the Raiders closely; he is one of their legends, and he will bring a presence, power, a bit of size, and is someone who is hard to handle,” Daley said of the Raiders legend.

The Blues will head to Leura late on Tuesday before holding their first training session on Wednesday.

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