Trent Robinson labelled Sam Walker’s return to the NRL a “mixed bag” in a cheeky dig at his star halfback who delivered impressive, and equally poor moments against the Dragons.
The 23-year-old suffered an ACL injury in Round 26 last year before a thumb injury suffered during training also delayed his first grade comeback.
Walker kicked an important field goal on the stroke of halftime and assisted a Billy Smith try, but he also was sent to the sin bin for dangerous tackle on prop David Klemmer.
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“Yep, sent for 10, nice field goal, a try assist, a missed tackle. It was a mixed bag,” Robinson said with a wry smile.
“But after a year out and an ACL, all of that, it’s good to have him back.”
Tricolours skipper James Tedesco added: “He’s great for our team, it’s not easy coming back from an ACL. Then the week he was meant to come back he breaks his thumb.
“He’s had a tough road back, but he’s worked really hard on his recovery, but it’s just good to see him back on the field playing some footy.
“He creates so many opportunities for us, and we just have to keep building on our combinations with Hugo there and have a good back-end of the year.”
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Robinson was also confident that Walker will avoid a suspension for the tackle he described as having “no force”.
“Look obviously you can’t do that. (But) I feel like that’s a pretty heavy price for possibly the lowest contact that you could possibly put on a tackle,” Robinson said.
“There’s no force in that tackle at all, it’s like the old schoolyard kneel down behind them and push them over type of thing.
“It’s not something we don’t want to see, but there’s no force in that. We’ve had guys be out for six weeks with MCLs with no penalties.
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“All of a sudden we get to a sin bin for that, I was surprised with that.”
Robinson’s comments referred to an injury suffered by back rower Siua Wong who suffered an MCL injury in Round 16 after a tackle from Cowboys’ utility Karl Lawton.
“It didn’t get penalised. To have the difference between the two seems extreme to be honest,” he said.
“And you don’t want it, Sam you can’t do that. You can’t get in those positions, there’s a risk of injury and it should be penalised.
“But 10 minutes is a big price for no force and no injury.”
When asked when Walker could be facing a suspension, Robinson replied: “If I could make that decision I’d be a very happy coach, but that’s not in my control.”
