Stewart's season finished

[Guest]

Oh well there is always 2011.

Stewart's injury is worse than first thought and he will not feature again in 2010.

Manly full-back Brett Stewart will miss the rest of the NRL season as his knee injury is worse than first thought.

The 25 year old had surgery on his left knee after damaging it in the first round of the season.

He had hoped to come back for round 20 but has been told there is no chance of him returning this year.

Stewart missed most of last season with a similar injury to his other knee.

The Sea Eagles have lost their opening two matches of the NRL season.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/25/2855677.htm?site=sport&section=all

 

[The Wheel]

Great

 

[Rodo]

Sad news.  Hope Brett will be raring to go in 2011.

And now that's the end of Manly's chances this season. 

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

It is VERY sad news but I disagree, we made 5th last year, after a dreadful start and without Brett for much of the time.

I still predict we will finish top 8 this year and play in the finals, what I saw last weekend has showed me enought to suggest this.

 

[Rambo1987]

Would have been happy to see him come back next year anyhow. This way he can start the season without injury or Court case hanging over his head.

We still a chance of making the 8 but we need to win this weekend and not drop any games at Brookie.. if we do - we are gone.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Farrar or robbo for fullback what's your views.

 

[Canteen Worker]

It goes from bad to worse!!!  Time to move on and plan for the future.

 

[Rambo1987]

Farrar or robbo for fullback what's your views.

I think they will go with Farrar but David Penna said before the U20 match that Hoppa Jnr will get a chance before year end.

If not we should go out and buy a specialist fullback - watch the Tigers V Magpies premier league game yesterday and Sean Meaney played a great game at fullback. He is a junior plus he's a fullback - just a thought....

 

[eggson]

I'm kinda glad it's the whole season.  There's no rush to get him back, the team now has the mindframe of he won't be back instead of waiting for him, we can settle on a squad for the rest of the year etc  plus get some kids more experience.

It sucks but as soon as i heard '5 months' i figured it would drag like last year and that means the whole season.

Hope the guy's doing ok... i know he has a lot of supporters

 

[Chip and Chase]

Probably a blessing in a way. At least now the rest of the team know for sure he won't be coming back, so there is no little niggle in the back of their heads that Brett will save the season if we scrape into the 8. They have to man up now and do it themselves without him. Either they are good enough or we miss the 8.

Farrar is the best option at fullback going on last round and his couple of efforts last season. I think he will be pretty solid, he seems keen to get involved and with a few more games under his belt to work out positional play he'll go alright.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Might be another Dessie smokescreen, to take him out of the equation for the mindset of the other players. If he did get back, an unexpected bonus. I cannot recall another player, or even another sportsperson, who has gone from on top of the world to such depths. There must be some similar stories but I can't think of any.

 

[niccipops]

Bad luck for Stewy and Manly. I look forward to seeing him back on the field in 2011 and to Manly proving that we're not a one man team and winning heaps of games in 2010.

 

[Mcatmos]

Agreed, Farrar should definately get an opportunity following his performance on Sunday to stamp his spot on the number 1 position. Failing that then I think we should invest alot of time into young Hoppa instead of shopping around for another fullback.

It would be great to have Brett back on board but have some reservations that he will ever perform at his absolute best again after suffering these injuries.. hopefully he comes back and proves me wrong...

 

[davohan123]

You know what i am going to miss this season the most is the  smile of brett after scoring a try a brookie.

You only have to watch the 2008 season highlights to see what a happy vibrant man he was then.

To Brett you have everyone's full support here and hope we will get to see the brett we know back at brookie- whether it be in 2010 or in 2011.

And a last note: The person who i hope now now has a big season is Glen- people may be forgetting how hard this is for him

My opinion: This year now no one will give us a chance. I have a funny feeling we may make some names sayers eat their words. I think we will make the finals then who knows from then " The finals is whole different kettle of fish".

 

[Central Coast Eagle]

That's bad news for Brett and Manly.

I just hope for Brett's sake that when he does come back next year he is the same player he was, hopefully he doesn't go the same way as Nik Kosef did.

 

[deadlyeagle]

No with Brett gone for another season i think we should buy a player like William Zillman who can not even crack a spot in the first team at the GC, now he would be a handy pikup to fill-in for an injured BS or even play him on the wing ala Farrar. I was dissapionted we didnt buy him when he was off contract but i would be interested to see how much longer he has left on his contract.

 

[Wolfpack]

Not suprised, he was practically gone for the season anyway.

Farrar is a very solid fullback & a great athlete, I see no reason why he can't excel in the position after some game experience. Would be great to see Hoppa Jr. get a run later in the season as well if things are going along well.

We aren't a Matt Orford team anymore, so while losing Brett will obviously hurt it wont have the same impact as 09 IMO.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

We aren't a Matt Orford team anymore, so while losing Brett will obviously hurt it wont have the same impact as 09 IMO.

The team does look different this year, and they have looked very impressive at times. The ability to close out games we are winning has not been helped by having inexperienced halves and a new captain. Even without Brett, I still think we will get better as the season progresses. Too many more injuries though and we will be struggling.

 

[DSM5]

Chip and Chase said it all.  Better to get him away to sort out his injury and the pesky court case.  It truly must be playing with his mind.  All over, and he comes back season 2011, plays fully fit and gradually moves into a 5/8th role.  All good really.   

 

[mcatt]

Doesn't surprise me, as soon as he was committed to stand trial I had a feeling that the 5 months lay off would turn into the season.

At least now he can concentrate on his court case and the rest of the team can be somewhat removed from his private and injury dramas.

This years premiership is out of the question though, but hopefully next year Stewart's and Manly's bad luck will change and we will get a full season from him. Along with that our younger blokes having a years worth of 1st grade experience. We do definately need to look at recruiting some outside backs for next year though.