North Queensland fear for injured duo as Craig Bellamy admits Storm concerns
North Queensland Cowboys have concerns over the fitness of Jason Taumalolo and Kyle Feldt after the key duo picked up injuries in the 36-6 win over the Melbourne Storm on Saturday.
The Cowboys superb start to the season continued with the victory over Melbourne. They now sit third on the ladder, level on points with Melbourne, after picking up their eighth win of 2022.
However the victory looks to have come at a price. In-form winger Feldt has picked up a leg injury while co-captain Taumalolo has a knee issue.
North Queensland wait on duo
The Cowboys are waiting to learn the full extent of the damage. But speaking after the game coach Todd Payten says he expects Feldt to be out for a while. He also said it does not look great for Taumalolo either.
North Queensland will be praying the duo are not out for long. There is a big question mark over whether they will be able to maintain their strong start without key players. The strength in depth will be tested.
It is also a blow for Queensland coach Billy Slater ahead of State of Origin. Feldt looked certain to start against New South Wales on 8th June.
Meanwhile the alarm bells are sounding for Storm coach Craig Bellamy. Melbourne needed to bounce back after last week’s heavy defeat against Penrith. But were on the receiving end of another one.
The Storm are missing key players but Bellamy is not using that as an excuse. It was his side’s failure to compete that alarmed him the most.
“Yeah I’m concerned,” he told reporters after the game. “We can handle being outplayed and we can handle being beat but at the end of the day when we beat ourselves through lack of competing in doing the little things really well, that’s an area for concern.”
Craig Bellamy praises Cowboys
Even though he was disappointed with his own side, Bellamy had praise for the Cowboys. And he did not want to take anything away from the way they played.
“The Cowboys were really good and I don’t want to take any credit away from them, but I as I said, we were just a bit disjointed, we lacked a bit of cohesion,” he added.
Bellamy also confirmed he does not expect to have any of his injured spine back fit for the Manly game next week. He also admitted to getting it wrong when playing hooker Harry Grant at halfback in the absence of Jahrome Hughes.
“It’s obviously not his best position but we just thought that was the way to go. But we probably got it wrong,” Bellamy said.
