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Sydney Roosters winger Brett Morris fears for his safety and that of other NRL players at Brookvale Oval after injuring his knee on the venue's shifting pitch during Saturday night's match against Manly.
Key points:
- Brett Morris sustained a medial ligament tear, blaming the the injury on the Brookvale Oval playing surface
- It is the second knee injury Morris has sustained at the venue during his NRL career
- The SCG has also been hit by turf problems this year
Morris was hobbling in a large knee brace on Monday morning and will be sidelined for the next two weeks because of the partial medial ligament tear in his left knee that ended his match in the Roosters' 26-18 victory.
It is the second time Morris has sustained a knee injury at the Sea Eagles' home ground and he was concerned he and others might still be at risk playing at the venue in the future.
"Certainly from now on it will be in the back of my mind, thinking about my own safety having past experiences," Morris said.
"You can't say you won't play — that's my job — but next time there will certainly be worry."
The playing surface of Brookvale Oval, which is managed by the Northern Beaches Council as opposed to the NRL, was waterlogged after heavy rain on Saturday.
But Morris, who injured his knee at the same venue in 2015 playing for Canterbury, said the poor playing surface was a long-term problem that needed to be addressed.
He said it was "frustrating" and "disappointing" to be injured as a result of turf problems at Brookvale Oval.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't [angry]," Morris said.
"If it was the first time it happened to me I'd probably brush it off, but I've been to Brookvale twice now and my knee has dug in and I've had an injury as a result."
Morris said he feared other NRL players could be injured at Brookvale Oval, highlighting the impact it could have on a club's season.
"If a club lost a major player there would be a lot of uproar, especially a club building their season," he said.
"Say Newcastle, they went there and lost someone like [Kayln] Ponga, how would their fans and players react? [It's] probably something we need to look at."
Sydney venues hampered by turf issues
Brookvale Oval is not the only Sydney venue that has had concerns raised about the state of its playing surface.
The poor state of the Kogarah Jubilee Oval surface forced the Matildas to move their Cup of Nations fixture to Leichardt Oval last month, while St George Illawarra shifted an NRL trial against the Knights from the same venue to Wollongong for similar reasons.
The SCG made headlines earlier this month when the Waratahs and Reds tore up parts of the ground during scrums in their Super Rugby match.
While critical of Brookvale Oval, Morris said he found the SCG to be in better condition when the Roosters played South Sydney in the opening round of the NRL.
"We had rain at the SCG when we were playing Souths, I didn't see anyone's knees digging into the ground that far," he said.
The Sydney Swans use the SCG as their home ground in the AFL and coach John Longmire said significant work had been done on the playing surface over the last few weeks.
"A lot of it has been replaced and hopefully the centre wicket area stands up," he said.
"That's the challenge when you've got a wicket in middle of a football ground. The reality is if it gets wet it could be an issue — slippery, slipping wise — but we've found it OK up to this point."
Longmire said his message to the players was not to concern themselves with the state of the SCG playing surface.
"If you start to worry about that you take your eye off the ball a bit," he said.
The AFL will replace sections of the turf at Melbourne's Docklands, which hosted two matches over the weekend.
Large divots appeared during Sunday's match between St Kilda and Gold Coast, a night after Western Bulldogs defender Matthew Suckling was injured on the shifting ground against Sydney.
But Longmire said his players appeared to have no concerns about the Docklands pitch.
"I don't think any of them had much trouble with surface, maybe [it was] a fraction hard," he said.
Topics: sport, rugby-league, nrl, rugby-union, super-rugby, australian-football-league, sports-injuries, brookvale-2100, sydney-2000
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