Tony Smith plays down Trent Waterhouse injury

Tony Smith has confirmed Trent Waterhouse is expected to play on Sunday despite missing the second half of Monday’s game with Catalan.

Waterhouse suffered from bleeding in the eyeball during Monday night’s game, where the Wolves went onto defeat the Dragons 15-6, and failed to re-appear in the second half.

But Smith is not worried about the injury after seeing a consultant, and says it is not an uncommon problem and Waterhouse has suffered with it before at Penrith.

He said: “Initial thoughts were that he was going to be out for a couple of weeks, but he saw a consultant at the weekend who said it may settle down by the weekend. 

“He has had it before, and the consultant is quite at ease that he will be ok to play on Sunday. It’s not something that is threatening down the line, or more substantial. 

“We won’t take any risks with his eyesight, however we have been told not to rule him out entirely. I had it in my head we would be without him this weekend, but it looks like we are all present and accounted for with the exception of Simon Grix.”

Grix’s tear to a pectoral muscle is taking longer than expected to heal. However Lee Briers is still in contention to play in Sunday’s semi final, and his achilles will be assessed as the week goes on. 

Smith said: “This is an ongoing issue for Lee, and it’s down to us to manage him and get him doing enough training to be able to play well. That’s the juggling act we are doing at the moment.

“If he doesn’t make it it’s not the end of the world. We have some very capable young boys, along with Richie Myler waiting for his opportunity to come back. We’re in an OK position, even though we would like Lee to be back.”

Smith has been left frustrated with the lack of under 20s games which have followed the Rugby League 9s tournament in June.

Richie Myler and David Solomona have both been kept from reaching match fitness due to a break in that competition, and are unlikely to play in the semi final because of it.

Smith said: “We’ve had nowhere to prepare them, nowhere to get them match fit. It’s an issue.”

Myler has been recovering from a hernia and abductor operation in May, while Solomona suffered from a broken leg in the Wolves’ pre season tour of Australia.