NRL: Stitch in time may have Luck ready

Warriors player Micheal Luck waits for treatment on his gashed leg after the game against the Manly Sea Eagles. Photo / Supplied

Key Warriors forward Micheal Luck says he will do anything to get back on the field before the National Rugby League season ends.

A freak, ugly gash in his leg ended Luck's match against Manly last Saturday although in typical fashion he finished a defensive set of six before going down.

The 18cm gash, opened up by the sprigs on the boot of Anthony Watmough, was likened to a shark bite by Warriors captain Simon Mannering after the game.

"It wasn't real pretty," Luck said after arriving home from Sydney yesterday. "It's pretty gruesome. It's just one of those things. I must have fell straight on his boot with enough force to just rip it open like that."

Luck said he hadn't seen any reports on the injury from the surgeon, who added stitches to it so he wasn't even sure what shape it was now in.

He wasn't hopeful he would make it on the field for his team's crucial home match against the Broncos on Friday night but thought he was a chance to play the team's final regular season match against Parramatta the following week.

"If I get the bandage off tonight and it looks all right, I'll do everything I can to play this week, but that'd be overly optimistic I think," he said.

"I'll just do everything I can to recover well and make sure if there's an opportunity to play I'll be there to take it."

Luck's defensive work is one of the key reasons why the Warriors are currently seventh in the NRL, two points ahead of the Broncos, and any games he misses would be a blow for the team's playoff chances.

The last Warriors game he missed was the 50-6 thrashing by the Wests Tigers but Luck thought his team could cope without him.

"A lot's changed since then. As a group we've come a long way since that game. We've worked very hard off the field since then," he said.

* Warriors hooker Ian Henderson is leaving the club at the end of this season to join Les Catalans in the British Super League. The club has released him from the last year of his contract.

- NZPA