IT was a fine line Taree five-eighth Jake Maurirere trod between having a nasty pain in the neck and being a wheelchair patient when two of his 100kg-plus Manning River Ratz forwards accidentally fell on him at training last week.
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The 25-year-old playmaker will miss at least the next two months of training and perhaps the early weeks of the Lower Mid North Coast rugby union premiership, but scans have cleared him of any serious spinal injury following the mishap.
"The doc told me I was a lucky feller. I don't need any surgery. The C3 and C4 discs are pressing against the spinal column and the C2, C3, C4, and C5 discs are inflamed and bulging, but physiotherapy should see things return to normal," Maurirere said.
"It's a really good outcome, not as bad as first thought when the boys heard my neck crack. It will be six weeks or so before I can resume training, but I'll put my family first ands be guided by what the doctor says. I can't rush back.
"The first thing I asked him was when I could get back to work and he laughed when the second thing I asked was about resuming training. He was expecting it, he told me. "
Maurirere is a qualified nurse at the retirement village at Bishop Tyrrell Place, Cundletown. He and his partner have a three-year-old daughter and are expecting their second child. They are to be married in October.
Maurirere praised his employers as well as his coach, Danial Stone, for their consideration and regular communications in the difficult days after his injury when his captain, No 8 Sam Hartnett, and prop Wayne Gahan toppled on him in a tackling mishap.
In the circumstances of his absence, coach Stone may well employ versatile MNC Axeman representative, Mitch Carter, as five-eighth when the Ratz meet the Old Bar Clams in their first round premiership match at Trad Fields, Old Bar, on April 11.
Carter, Hartnett, Gahan and hooker Jonno Annand are all in training with the MNC representative squad, which is preparing on Sunday mornings for the NSW Country carnival in Bowral in May.
Another to join the squad is the impressive Forster-Tuncurry Dolphins utility forward, Troy Haines, who played roles as backrower, lock and hooker in the Dolphins' successful campaign last year. He has the skills and physique to become a valuable member of the Axemen's squad.
Regrettably, the Dolphins' captain, Matt Nuku, who excelled last season, is committed to working at weekends.
