The Eels struggling mindset copped another blow yesterday, with their key play maker Feleti Mateo confirmed to have a strained medial ligament in his knee and will be out of action for 2 NRL games.
An MRI scan was performed on the Mateo knee yesterday, injured during an awkward tackle in Saturday nights clash with South Sydney, which confirmed a small strain of the medial ligament. Mateo will certainly miss Friday night’s game against Manly at Brookvale and more than likely the week after when the Eels are at home to the Cowboys.
Kris Keating, Parramatta’s Toyota Cup skipper, is expected to be Mateo’s fill-in, Eels coach Michael Hagan saying yesterday: “I’m confident Kris would do a good job. He’s been around the team for most weeks, and he has played a couple of games off the bench and played pretty well.”
The Eels urgently need competition points and will be hoping for a win after consecutive losses to Penrith and the Rabbitohs left them outside of the top 8.
Parramatta club doctor Michael Johnson said the length of Mateo’s absence depended on how well he reacted to treatment.
“It’s just going to depend on speed of recovery,” Johnson said. “If Feleti’s lucky, he’ll only miss the one game, or it’ll be two.”
Johnson said Eels prop Josh Cordoba, who has an abdominal strain, and halfback Brett Finch (hamstring strain) would be fit to play Manly. He said prop Fuifui Moimoi’s corked knee would be checked tomorrow.