League: Raiders may pay Price of inaction

Steve Price feels a bit of a twinge for his propping partner Ruben Wiki as they prepare to take on Wiki's old club the Canberra Raiders at Ericsson Stadium tomorrow night.

Lying on the physiotherapist's table, clear he's going to start his first game since he tore the medial ligament of his right knee during a win over the Wests Tigers in May, Price has been the focus of all attention as he comes back ahead of the originally projected time.

"It will be an emotional week for Ruben, given the involvement he's had at that club [Canberra, 1993-2004]. I really hope the fans get out and support him. He'll be looking to have a big game."

Just as Price would have been against his old club the Bulldogs at Ericsson a fortnight ago, one in which the Warriors played well but narrowly lost.

After making his fourth test team since his international debut in 1998, then State of Origin One, Price was in the best form of his career when the knee popped.

"It was disappointing missing those games [the Bulldogs in the NRL and the rest of the Origin series] for sure," Price said.

"But I was disappointed I missed the run we've had over the past few weeks. When I looked at the draw at the start of the season, and we had all the finals teams from last year, it's that sort of challenge you look forward to. Anyway, I just hate missing any games."

In 2004 he missed the Bulldogs' grand final win over the Roosters after suffering the same injury to his left knee. He worked hard through the off-season, with lots of biking and strength work, and then a gradual return to lots of running, agility work and contact work. He was ready just before this season started.

It helps knowing the routine. On Wednesday he saw specialist Barry Tietjens, after a training session at the Warriors, and was given the okay.

"I'm confident, for sure. Barry and I are confident that the risk factor [of a repeat] is very low, if any. He wanted me to have that contact run before I saw him."

Price felt sure he could make a quicker-than-expected recovery.

"Having been through it I had a feeling of how things were going. You have to be confident it's going to be okay when you get on the field, otherwise you'll only let your team-mates down."

Tietjens had opened the knee up and reattached the medial to the knee bone.

It had torn right through.

After recovery, there is strengthening work to help keep the knee tight so there is less risk of recurrence.

The Raiders game will be Price's 11th for the club, his first since the Warriors' 21-4 win against Wests Tigers in Auckland on May 29.

He will probably not start and is likely to do about 40 or 50 minutes than the 70 he averaged in early games, until match fitness builds.

While sidelined the big prop has been pleased by the steady improvement the Warriors have made, particularly those taking his place.

"We've really pushed in every game. Iafeta [Paleaaesina] and Villa [Richard Villasanti] have impressed me, there was pressure put on them when I was injured and they've both gone to another level.

"Last week's game [beating the Roosters 24-22] was a massive indication of improvement.

"Down 22-8 and things not going our way, it would have been easy to look at the following weekend.

"But they showed patience and composure, and took the opportunities when they came. That's the difference between some earlier games and now."


Each week now they had to start again to get the results they wanted - making the finals. "You can get your pants pulled down if you look too far ahead. We have to prepare properly."

They needed to focus on their own game. "That's when we've done best, we don't want to focus too much on the opposition."

The Warriors were looking forward to tomorrow night's encounter, Price said, their first Saturday night game at home this season.

"When I was with the Bulldogs thinking about Saturday night in Auckland you always knew it was going to be wet, it was going to be slippery and it was going to be tough and it wasn't something you were looking forward to."

He hopes that's how Wiki's former team-mates will be thinking.

* STEVE PRICE

Born: March 12, 1974 Dalby, Queensland.
Weight/height: 106kg 193cm
Position: Prop
NRL debut: R14 1994 for Canterbury
222 games for the Bulldogs
Signed with the Warriors for 2005-06
10 games, average 17 hit-ups for 158 metres gained, plus 28 tackles