Dyldam Parramatta Eels and captain Tim Mannah has today confirmed that he will miss Saturday night’s clash against the North Queensland Cowboys at 1300SMILES Stadium due to injury.
Sustaining a fractured shoulder blade in the Eels’ Round Four Easter Monday win over the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium, the forward is aiming for a return to the field against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Round Nine.
“I was hoping to push it this week, but it is not ready yet, so we are aiming for next Friday night,” Mannah said.
“I had my first run today which was good to get it out of the way. We tried running it last week and it wasn’t ready but now that we have had that first run out of the way, I am feeling a lot more confident after that.” He added.
“I haven’t done any contact yet, and will probably wait a little bit longer for that.”
Mannah’s recent injury has seen the skipper miss four games on the sideline.
Before this setback, the skipper had missed only three weeks in his 170 game career since 2009.
“It was just a bit frustrating last week. I was hoping to get out on the field and running last week and it was pretty painful,” Mannah said.
“Today was a pretty good moment to get that run under my belt but it is just one of those things you have to wait for it to heal.”
The Eels take on the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday 23 April, kick off at 7:30pm.
