1
1910
International Rep
- Apr 14, 2013
- 15,782
- 19,947
Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. I think the Bulldogs are being overly-cautious with their timeline and I wouldn't be shocked if he's back by April/May. It's a neck injury so you want to take every precaution so I think they're preparing for a scenario where Oloapu misses an entire season.
That's the peril of trying to rush through your development. We're seeing it more and more how demanding these young players are coming through and they're just not ready for the grind. Oloapu is at that stage of his career where he shouldn't even be thinking NRL, but since he's been paid like an NRL player and his club is planning for the future he found himself in the deep end.
I don't think the Bulldogs were being negligent. I presume they did all the scans and determined that he could play through a neck strain, he copped another whack that put him on the sidelines for two months, and passed his physical only for post-season scans to reveal an issue.
And they don’t even know yet if he needs surgery. Weilder is guessing.