Souths coach Wayne Bennett joked he is too scared to ask his medical staff about injured players after Keaon Koloamatangi joined the club’s bulging casualty ward list.
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Souths went down 30-10 to the Panthers, with Koloamatangi suffering an ankle injury and Peter Mamouzelos copping a head knock in the defeat.
The latest injury blows came on the back of Latrell Mitchell going down with a quad injury at training during the week and Cody Walker all but being ruled out for the season.
Bennett was asked if there was anyone coming back next week to help the cause.
“Well I’m not game to ask, I hate being disappointed,” Bennett said.
Bennett was pressed if he had ever encountered anything like Souths’ injury woes in all his years in coaching.
“Yeah well I mean we’re talking top players here as well so yeah but I was proud of their effort here tonight,” Bennett said.
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“We had to turn up and put a lot of effort in the game which we did, but there’s no one that changeroom in there that was disappointed with their effort.”
Bennett revealed Mamouzelos will be out for a week, but would await scans on Koloamatangi.
“Pete will be out for a week at least due to concussion,” Bennett said.
“Keaon has got an ankle problem we just don’t know how bad it is.”
Bennett admitted Koloamatangi has been his side’s best player this year and would be a massive loss.
“Yeah he has, well anyway it’s just the way it’s gone at the moment, so we’ll see how long he’s out for,” Bennett said.
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However, in some bright news for Souths, Bennett is hopeful Latrell Mitchell will be back in four games.
“They are talking four weeks,” Bennett said.
Souths skipper Jack Wighton praised his side’s effort in trying times for the club.
“Yeah effort you can’t fault,” Wighton said.
“We were brave for so long in the game and I’ll take a little bit of ownership as one of the senior players and kicking game and finishing the sets.
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“That compounds the pressure and that’s when we break in the little moments but effort wise I couldn’t be prouder of the lads.
“But we just need to ice the little things mate and get a little bit of luck sometimes too.”
Wighton admitted Koloamatangi would be a huge loss, but believes his team needs any all hands on deck to weather the storm.
“He’s led the way massively but every man at the moment is a big loss isn’t it?” Wighton said.
“We’re backs against the wall and down on troops but we just keep on turning up.”
