CANBERRA Raiders fullback Jack Wighton has made a stunning recovery from a fractured eye socket, named to return to the field for his side’s clash against Sydney Roosters, but the prognosis for another of Orange’s NRL stars isn’t so bright.
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While Wighton’s miraculous recovery will see him return to the lime green No.1 jersey at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, Gold Coast Titans half Dan Mortimer’s decision to play through most of his side’s match-up with Newcastle last weekend with a fractured wrist has him set to miss up to a month of football.
Mortimer injured his wrist in the early stages of Gold Coast’s 20-18 loss to Newcastle, but played the remainder of the game leading to praise from his coach, with Neil Henry labelling the performance “brave”.
Originally reported as a ligament injury, it was revealed on Tuesday Mortimer has in fact suffered a fracture and will miss anywhere from two to four weeks.
Much of the focus in the wake of the Titans’ two-point loss was on Mortimer’s boot in the late stages of the game - he punched two crucial kicks out on the full - leading to speculation he may struggle to retain his place if replacement pivot Kane Elgey, the reigning Holden Cup player of the year, produces.
Henry, however, dismissed the claims.
“Kane was probably looking at a few more weeks in Queensland Cup,” Henry told Titans TV.
“Everyone seems to get quite excited when young players get an opportunity and they’re quite quick to come down on players who had a bit of an off night.
“Daniel Mortimer actually injured his wrist early in the game and played the whole game with a small fracture, so he was very brave and made a couple of big plays.
“Unfortunately [he had] a couple of poor kicks but that’s how it goes but I was pretty happy with the other aspects of his game.”
The two costly bungles took the gloss of an otherwise solid performance from the 25-year-old which included making 35 tackles and missing just one, and having a leading hand in Aiden Sezer’s second try of the match, which pushed Gold Coast into the lead with just 15 minutes remaining in the clash.