Veteran Warriors prop Steve Price has been ruled out indefinitely after the heel he injured late last year flared up during training earlier this week.<br><br>The Warriors are playing down Price’s latest setback, insisting he will return in the next few weeks, but a dejected Price told NRL.com this morning that he had no idea when he would be ready to return to the field again.<br><br>“Everything was going well with my recovery until I went for a run on Sunday and it flared up again,” the 36-year-old disclosed. <br><br>“I’ve had to scale everything back again and just wait for the swelling to go down. <br><br>“It’s annoying…You think things are going good and then one thing happens.”<br><br>Asked if doctors had put a time frame on his recovery, Price said: “No they haven’t at all. I’ve just got to go by how it feels. <br><br>“That makes it even more frustrating because you can’t set a date. If it’s a bit sore you don’t train, if it’s alright you train.<br><br>“I don’t know what’s gone wrong – last Sunday I was pretty much preparing to be playing this weekend, then I went for a run and it blew up, got massive and was very painful. <br><br>“I wasn’t even doing that much. <br><br>“I did a lot more on the Friday so I don’t know if it was the building up of it and Sunday was the day that it decided to ‘have a cranky’. <br><br>“It’s pretty frustrating.”<br><br>Price was touted as the world’s premier front-rower in 2007 after a phenomenal year in which he averaged 225 metres per game and twice broke the 300-metre barrier.<br><br>But he has since endured two injury-plagued seasons – prompting critics to suggest his ageing body is starting to catch up with him after 17 years in the top grade.<br><br>His 2009 season was particularly grueling with heel, throat, shoulder and eye injuries to go with the infamous concussion he suffered when knocked out by Brett White in the deciding State of Origin game.<br><br>Price has refuted suggestions he has become injury-prone, however, and said he expected to make a successful return in 2010.<br><br>“I played every game but two in the first half of last season – and I only missed those two because I got kneed in the throat,” he said. <br><br>“Other than that I played every game up until the halfway mark and then only three after it… but they were unlucky injuries.<br><br>“I went to see the doctor after we played Canberra to see what he could do about an eye injury at the end of the year and he said I had a detached retina. <br><br>“As it turns out I was actually quite lucky – especially getting punched in Origin – that it didn’t cause blindness. <br><br>“Everyone that I’ve spoken to says that as soon as you find out you’ve got a detached retina you get it fixed straight away because you don’t want to jeopardise your sight.”<br><br>Ironically, the Warriors have only recently welcomed back Price’s brother-in-law Brent Tate after he missed almost the entire 2009 season with a knee injury.<br><br>“We haven’t played together since March last year,” Price said.<br> <br>“Up until then we played 30-odd games together and we were looking forward to playing again, but that’s the way it goes.”<br><br><b>Late NRL news:</b><br><br>• NSW State of Origin forward Tom Learoyd-Lahrs could be a late inclusion in the Canberra squad to face the Gold Coast after recovering from a knee injury.<br>• Newcastle has suffered a late setback with speedster Cooper Vuna ruled out with a calf strain. Keith Lulia comes in against the Sea Eagles<br>• Cooper Cronk is likely to make his return for Melbourne, allowing captain Cameron Smith to return to his preferred hooking role.
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