Trent Robinson reveals 6-8 week layoff for Mark Nawaqanitawase

trent robinson said Mark Nawaqanitawase is expected to have surgery on a syndesmosis injury, a setback that rules him out of the State of Origin series opener on May 27. The Roosters winger was in the mix for Laurie Daley’s wing spot, but the injury now pushes him out of selection contention and into a 6-8 week layoff.

Robinson’s injury update

“It’s (his) syndesmosis, he looks like he’ll have an op,” Robinson said after the Roosters’ 38-24 win over the Broncos at Allianz Stadium. That diagnosis came after Nawaqanitawase left the field in the first half on Saturday night, with his foot trapped under teammate Robert Toia.

The timeline is tight for anyone chasing a State of Origin jersey. Daley had Nawaqanitawase in the mix with Campbell Graham and Josh Addo-Carr to partner Brian To’o on the wing, but surgery would sideline him for 6-8 weeks and wipe out the opening match of the series.

Roosters injuries mount

The winger was not the only casualty from the win. Lindsay Collins was ruled out of next Friday’s trip to Gosford after failing his head injury assessment in the first half, while Angus Crichton needs scans on a knee injury that forced him off midway through the second half.

Robinson said Crichton had a medial injury. “Gus was a medial. We’re having a look at that to see where he’s at so he’s getting scans now,” he said. “But I probably could have left him out there, but he needed work multiple times, so that’s medial.”

Origin and Broncos fallout

For NSW, the absence narrows the wing picture just as selections harden before May 27. For the Roosters, the physical cost of a 38-24 result has spread beyond one player, with a head assessment, a knee scan and a surgery decision all emerging from the same match.

The Broncos left Sydney with their own issues. Tom Duffy will come in for Adam Reynolds next week against Manly, while Michael Maguire said Payne Haas and Ben Hunt would not be back next week. Josiah Karapani was in serious doubt with an ankle injury, Deine Mariner was in serious doubt with a cork, and Kotoni Staggs was sent to the sin bin for an elbow to the back of Hugo Savala’s head late in the game.

For Nawaqanitawase, the path forward now runs through surgery and recovery, not Origin selection. That leaves Daley to sort the wing battle without a player who had been squarely in it only days earlier.