Flu the least of Luke Bailey's concerns - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Flu the least of Luke Bailey's concerns

By Laine Clark 09/06/2009 07:25:54 PM Comments (0)

Swine flu was the least of Gold Coast co-captain Luke Bailey's concerns after his heroic display in the Titans' 28-24 NRL upset of the Dragons on Monday night.

While laughing off a flu scare despite being in quarantine on Tuesday, Bailey is sweating on follow up scans on his arm which he fears may have been broken in the first half of the Skilled Park clash.

That did not stop him returning to the field to ensure the Titans held out the fast finishing visitors to record their first ever win over the Dragons.

Bailey was sensationally rushed from Skilled Park to nearby Robina hospital at halftime - but it had nothing to do with the flu scare that has rocked the NRL.

X-rays picked up what appeared to be a hairline fracture but Bailey still put his hand up to return to the field for a depleted Titans as the Dragons came back from 22-2 down at halftime.

"First we thought the x-rays gave us the all-clear but on second look the doc said there might be something little in there," Bailey said.

"We won't know until we get a bone scan.

"We've got a great medical team here so it was all over in 10 minutes - it was pretty handy actually."

Bailey didn't think twice about returning to the field in the 63rd minute after the Titans were depleted by the loss of barnstorming backrower Brad Meyers (concussion).

Titans pivot Mat Rogers also suffered what appeared to be a hamstring complaint but stayed on the field, only to damage rib cartilage in the dying minutes.

"You hear about that sort of thing all the time," Bailey said of his heroics.

"If the coach says 'if you can play, play' - I had enough bandages on there (arm) anyway.

"And I don't know if you saw my hit-ups towards the end but they were one-sided leading with the shoulder so I wasn't too tough I can tell you."

He hoped he would still be available for Origin II in Sydney on June 24.

For now, Bailey is resigned to laying low at home after he and his Titans and NSW Origin teammate Anthony Laffranchi were ordered into quarantine for 72 hours.

Both the Titans and the Dragons lost a player before kick-off on Monday night due to quarantine measures - the Gold Coast's Ashley Harrison and St George Illawarra fullback Darius Boyd.

But a communication breakdown resulted in Boyd arriving at the ground in the Dragons team bus and mingling with players before being told to leave.

The NRL ordered both teams to pull their Queensland players involved in last Wednesday's Origin clash after Maroons forward Ben Hannant caught swine flu in Melbourne last week.

But the NSW contingent - five players in all - in both teams were cleared to play.

If Bailey was concerned by the flu scare, he wasn't showing it.

"Boof (Laffranchi) and I might go to the movies together and clear out the cinemas," Bailey laughed.

The NRL have issued a "please explain" to St George Illawarra over Boyd's presence at the ground and he will leave the Gold Coast and re-join his teammates on Wednesday.

Bailey was named in an extended 19-man squad for Saturday's NRL clash with the Sydney Roosters at Bluetongue Stadium.

Queensland forward Harrison has been named to return along with winger Kevin Gordon (groin) who missed the four point nail-biter against the Dragons.

Other injury concerns Rogers and Meyers were also included in the squad.

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