The tough Dog who is needling both shoulders just to take the field

Canterbury’s NSW Origin hopeful Jacob Preston has been playing with painkilling injections in both AC joints since the start of the season as he prepares for a shift to the left side of the field to cover injured teammate Viliame Kikau.

Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton made a miraculous return from an AC joint shoulder injury last weekend, but said he had a new appreciation for Preston’s pain threshhold given he had been doing something similar most weeks.

Preston is one of the front-runners to start on the right edge for NSW in Origin I next month, but is expected to be just as effective when he moves to the left for Kikau (pectoral) for Friday’s clash with the North Queensland Cowboys.

“I had a needle before the game and again at half-time, I’ll probably keep doing that another couple of weeks; it was pretty sore 48 hours after the game … nobody talks about it, but he [Preston] is going through two ACs right now, and has been needling both sides,” Crichton said.

“A lot of people talk about my AC, but ‘Presto’ is really tough. He’s got two ACs, two guards, two needles before games. I think he did the first one in round one, then the second one in round two, and ever since he’s been [needling] both. It’s a credit to him how tough he is.”

Penrith’s Liam Martin’s knee injury has created a right-edge backrow vacancy, with Preston and Manly wrecking ball Haumole Olakau’atu in contention, as well as South Sydney’s Tallis Duncan.

“The way he’s been attacking games, his communication in defence, it’s what Origin is about, and his toughness … hopefully he’s in there,” Crichton said of Preston.

The Dogs are coming off two losses to Parramatta and Brisbane, and meet a confident Cowboys team, including former Dog Reed Mahoney, who would love nothing more than to get under the skin of his former teammates. Forward Jason Taumalolo also plays his 249th game for the Cowboys, equalling Johnathan Thurston’s club record.

In other team news, the Tigers have suffered a huge blow with Jahream Bula (shoulder) to miss Sunday’s trip to Cronulla, with Sunia Turuva shifting to fullback, coach Benji Marshall named Jeral Skelton on the wing, and Tristan Hope is at hooker for the suspended Api Koroisau.

Brisbane received a double boost with Pat Carrigan back from suspension and Reece Walsh overcoming a foot injury for Saturday night’s match of the round against the Sydney Roosters.

Kalyn Ponga (hamstring), Bradman Best (groin), Tyson Frizell (ribs) and Greg Marzhew (concussion) are all back for the Knights when they try to stop the in-form Rabbitohs in Newcastle on Sunday.

And Canberra were dealt a double blow with starting backrowers Noah Martin (ankle surgery) and Zac Hosking (concussion) unavailable. Ata Mariota and Simi Sasagi are their replacements for Saturday’s trip to the Gold Coast.

‘I’m not perfect’: Val Holmes opens up on shocker against Latrell Mitchell

St George Illawarra centre Valentine Holmes admits there are “no excuses” for the shocker he submitted against Latrell Mitchell and that he needs to repay the faith in coach Dean Young for not getting dropped.

Holmes is the Dragons’ highest-paid player, but hasn’t played up to his pay cheque during a 12-game Dragons losing streak that extends to last year. The nadir was being on the wrong side of a clinic a fortnight ago from opposing South Sydney three-quarter Mitchell, who scored four tries against him.

In his first game in charge, interim coach Young opted not to axe Holmes for the encounter against the Roosters. While the Maroons and Kangaroos representative’s personal performance was slightly better than the previous week, it mattered little after the tri-colours put on a record Anzac Day score of 62-16 at Allianz Stadium.

The form of senior players Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook and Holmes has been under the spotlight in a barren run that ultimately cost coach Shane Flanagan his job. Flanagan’s last game in charge was the loss to the Rabbitohs, the worst performance of Holmes’ career.

“There’s no excuses for the way I played [that night],” Holmes said.

“It was very poor, obviously I’m very grateful I got the opportunity to redeem myself as much as I could [against the Roosters]. I was back on the left side, which was good, I got to play outside young Reedy [debutant halfback Kade Reed] as well.

“It wasn’t the performance I wanted him to have and for our team to put on for him. I can’t say I’m proud of that performance for myself [against the Roosters] because we lost like that. They still scored on our side, they scored on both sides. We were pretty poor all over the park.”

Holmes didn’t shy away from the criticism of his own recent form which included missing 10 tackles against the Rabbitohs.

“The performance side of it, I’m not perfect,” he said.

“I never play perfect footy every week as much as I’d love to, I’ve had some very bad performances in my past. I’ve been playing, fortunately enough, for over 10 years …

“We tried to get up for the [Roosters] game. We obviously know what the Anzacs mean to us, for Australia and New Zealand and what the women and men did for us to be here. At the end of the day, we just didn’t perform well, we didn’t play the jersey proud and ourselves and our teammates and our family.”

‘Let’s hope history repeats’: Why Panthers are perfect inspiration for battling Storm

Christian Nicolussi

Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp says the Storm is “a proud club who will stick together”. And they only need to look back 12 months for inspiration to turn their horror start to the season around.

“It’s probably the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in my footy life,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said after the 48-6 loss to South Sydney on Saturday night.

It was the heaviest defeat for the club at AAMI Park, and left them with just two wins from their opening eight games.

To make matters worse, halfback Jahrome Hughes failed a HIA and will be unavailable for Friday’s clash against the Dolphins.

To put Melbourne’s start to the year into perspective, however, the Panthers were 2-6 last season before they exploded to life and made it all the way to the preliminary final, where they lost narrowly to eventual premiers Brisbane.

“Let’s hope history repeats, but it won’t happen by simply hoping,” Tripp said.

“We can take heart from what Penrith did, but at the same time there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us if we want to follow the same trajectory.

“I’ll be honest with you, there is cause for concern because we’re playing well below our best.

“We’re training well, they’re really putting in and there’s great enthusiasm at training, but it’s not translating on to the field.

“It’s concerning there’s this disconnect with what we’re doing at training and when it comes to game day.

“That’s the part that’s frustrating everyone – not just the players but the whole club. Everyone needs to dig in.

“The good clubs stick together. We pride ourselves on being a good club, an inclusive club, so we’re all in it together. We’ll dig our way out of this, and the only way you dig your way out of anything is through hard work. The good thing is nobody is dropping their heads.

“It’s not a case of going to ground zero, peeling everything back and starting again. Contrary to Saturday’s score, we’re not a million miles off.

“The squad we have is capable of winning many games and playing finals football. It’s just not showing at the moment.”

TV cameras captured Bellamy throwing his arms in the air and then storming out of the dressing room during the half-time break.

Bellamy has only missed September once during his time at the club, is regarded as one of the best coaches of all time, and for that reason alone, Tripp said, there will be no extra personnel brought in to assist him.

“Plus he’s already got a great support cast there – there’s no panic in that respect,” Tripp said.

“All of Craig’s assistants are first-grade coaches in waiting. [Queensland Origin coach] Billy Slater is also there as an assistant. We have plenty of footy smarts to get us through.”

Tyran Wishart is expected to come into the halves for Hughes, while Origin winger Xavier Coates is set to return from an Achilles injury in the coming weeks.

Souths had never won in their previous 20 starts playing in the Victorian capital, with Latrell Mitchell again at his physical best, while Tallis Duncan scored three tries and did his best to get under the skin of Queensland captain Cameron Munster.