Campese out for the year

Unfortunately, injuries in the world of the NRL are common – but when they happen in successive seasons, particularly when it is the same type of injury, that is heart-breaking for players, and for teams.

That is what has happened to Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese, after the Canberra Raiders confirmed that the representative five-eighth has torn his ACL, and will miss the remainder of the 2012 NRL season – having previously suffered a similar injury in late 2010.

At first, it was believed that Campese had only suffered a torn meniscus, which is a 2-6 week injury – though scans and subsequently, surgery, revealed the damage was much more severe.

Don Furner, Raiders CEO said that the injury was heart-breaking for Campese and the club, but that they would stand by Campese during his recovery.

“I’ve had the chance to sit down with Terry last night and he’s shattered with the news,” Furner said.

“This type of injury has a 10-15 per cent chance of re-occurring and unfortunately requires an extensive recovery period, which he has already recently been through. It’s terrible that he’s facing the same injury twice within two years, but he will be given the full amount of time to rehabilitate. We did discuss the LARS surgery, however, Terry’s long term health is of the utmost importance, and for that reason the traditional ACL surgery was agreed as the best option.”

“The club will stand by Terry in this tough time and ensure he gets the best medical care and rehabilitation. We request he is given time to get over the reconstructive surgery and this latest setback.”

“This injury is very unfortunate and we’ve reviewed the procedures which were taken and there was no indication that he would suffer the same injury as he did in 2010,” he said.

“The facts are that Terry had swelling on his knee after the Warriors game and his knee was scanned and there were no signs of structural damage.”

“Terry was seen by the surgeon on Thursday April 12 prior to training and again nothing could be found. Terry completed full training that day, otherwise he would have been withdrawn from the Broncos game.”

“Terry’s feedback was that the knee felt fine during the training and in the first 35 minutes of the Broncos game.

“What we need to do as a club is support Terry and his family and help him get through this.”