NRL: Verdict due on prop's career-threatening injury

Warriors prop Evarn Tuimavave. Photo / Getty Images

Warriors prop Evarn Tuimavave faces some nervous times today as he and the club doctor meet a specialist who will explain the results of the latest scans on a bulging disc in his neck, an injury that could curtail his career.

The initial word was that the prognosis is better than first feared - which is surgery that would finish his playing days, stalled on 99 games for the club and the one test for the Kiwis last season, just when he appeared to be approaching his peak.

But a return any time soon still seems unlikely. The club has opened negotiations with Steve Price for a one-year extension. "Our desire is to keep him for 2010 and if we can do that - we will," CEO Wayne Scurrah said yesterday.

They are close to securing the core players they want, with contracts soon to be put before hooker Ian Henderson and several juniors who will be seeking upgrades including half Isaac John and prop Hermann Retzlaff, both of whom are nearing their NRL blooding.

There is still no decision regarding Nathan Fien. "It's not dealt with either way, we thought he was likely to sign elsewhere," Scurrah said of the halfback/hooker.

Fien was looking at a three-year deal at Huddersfield until tax changes brought in because of the recession changed his mind. But his manager has been promoting him to other NRL sides.

"We have to assess where we are at with a number of players. We always said we would talk to him in May and I expect that to happen in two to three weeks," Scurrah said.

A meeting of the 16 club chief executives in Sydney has endorsed the two-referee system. They were told that statistics showed the play-the-balls and the game on the whole were faster and that referral of incidents to the video reviewer had dropped by 40 per cent.

The meeting was held at Penrith, with the NRL producing figures that showed the game was growing exponentially in the western Sydney suburbs and player numbers were predicted to rise 25 per cent by 2014.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd which has a 50 per cent stake in the Australian premiership governing body, commented: "The AFL's dream of a second Sydney team lies in tatters this morning with the revelation Premier Nathan Rees can no longer guarantee support for a second team in the western suburbs.

Rugby Union has bored its own supporters to death with the lacklustre and uninspiring brand of football produced by the Waratahs. And in A-League soccer, crowds tumbled last season at Sydney FC, the Central Coast Mariners and the Newcastle Jets."

Former Cronulla lock/five-eighth Greg Bird's playing future is uncertain after his conviction for glassing his girlfriend.

He was initially denied a work visa for England because of the charge but, after protest, secured one until the day of the hearing on Tuesday, after which sentencing was set for June 22.

Now he says he will appeal and intends to apply for an extension until the case is decided.