Dynamic Knights playmaker Fletcher Sharpe will undergo scans when he returns to Newcastle this week to rule out a potentially season-ending knee injury.
The 21-year-old Cessnock Goannas junior was replaced midway through the first half of Newcastle’s 28-18 victory over North Queensland in the NRL season-opener at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Sharpe did not return after hobbling off in the 25th minute, but Knights coach Justin Holbrook was certain the elusive pivot had not sustained ACL damage to his left knee.
The Knights will leave Las Vegas on Monday morning and the plan is for Sharpe to have further tests in Newcastle on Wednesday to confirm the initial diagnosis by the club’s medical staff.
“He’ll have to get some scans but we don’t think it’s anything too serious, so hopefully he’ll be fine. We won’t know just yet but nothing serious,” Holbrook said at the post-match media conference.
Fletcher Sharpe Try
“It’s not that (ACL), which is great... so hopefully it’s nothing serious.”
Sharpe had made a blistering start in his first NRL appearance since suffering spleen and kidney damage in Newcastle’s 26-20 victory over the Dolphins in Perth last June.
Speaking to reporters in the Newcastle dressing-room after the club’s first win since that game in Perth, Sharpe said he felt his knee buckle as he went in to make a tackle on Cowboys lock Reuben Cotter.
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“I was kind of side-shuffling and just went down. Pain-wise, it’s all good. I’ve got no pain... but actually using it, it’s a bit restricting, so fingers crossed it’s all good,” Sharpe said.
“I’ll get some scans pretty much as soon as we can when we get home then go from there, hopefully get a good result, then move forward from there.”
Sharpe was everywhere in the first 20 minutes, scoring Newcastle’s first try in the sixth minute, then throwing the final pass for left winger Greg Marzhew to crash over in the 13th to help the Knights establish an early 12-0 lead.
The long-haired playmaker leapt above the North Queensland defenders to catch Kalyn Ponga’s kick and score the first try of the NRL season, then he cleaned up the scraps when the Cowboys could not defuse another Ponga bomb to set up Marzhew’s try.
Sharpe was slow to his feet in the 24th minute after the attempted tackle on Cotter and needed treatment to his left knee, then the Cowboys took advantage by targeting his side of the field a minute later.
Sharpe is everywhere
Cowboys skipper Tom Dearden passed to back-rower Heilum Luki, who stepped between Sharpe and Bradman Best to score out wide, then Sharpe limped off.
“You try to say everything’s all good and play on but it just wasn’t right,” Sharpe said.
“Just being able to play my game, I wasn’t quite right, so fingers crossed, everything’s all good and I’ll go home and get some scans.
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“It’s obviously frustrating personally, with a bit of a niggle in the knee, but obviously I’m pumped for the team. It’s been a little while since we’ve got to sing that team song, so geez, that was a great feeling.”
Newcastle do not play again until Sunday, March 15, against Manly at 4 Pines Park, so if the injury is only minor, the Knights hope Sharpe might only miss one or two games at most.
Though it only lasted 25 minutes, Sharpe, new halves partner Dylan Brown and Ponga looked threatening in their first game together as playmakers.
“It felt good out there, and I felt like we were getting a really good rhythm to it,” Sharpe said.
Bradman Best Try
“That’s how we trained for a long time in the pre-season, we knew how we wanted to play, and I thought we started the game that way.
“It was kind of free-flowing, and fell into the areas we needed to, then we scored a few points early which was good, and gave everyone that confidence, and we went on with it.”
