Two-time World Cup champion Bec Young is confident fellow Hunter-bred Jillaroos representative Caitlin Moran can bounce back bigger and better in 2019.
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Young’s support on Tuesday follows Moran’s “heartbreaking” and season-ending knee injury, which requires surgery next week, approaching a significant period in the women’s game.
The 21-year-old playmaker ruptured her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a Brisbane club game for Souths Logan on the weekend and will now miss the National Championships from Friday, State of Origin on June 22 and the inaugural NRL Women’s Premiership during September.
Scans on Monday confirmed the extent of the damage.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Young told the Newcastle Herald.
“I’m just devastated for her. She would have been a major signing in the first NRL Women’s Premiership.
“But she has got plenty of football left in her and this isn’t the end. Footy is what she does and not who she is, so she’s just got to work on other parts of her life and then get stuck into rehab.
“And who knows what will happen with the premiership after this year, it could be bigger and better with even more teams involved.”
Moran was poised to join the Brisbane Broncos in 2018, having relocated to the Queensland capital recently and starting an education traineeship at the club.
"It is shattering for her as a young girl who is probably at the peak of her powers as far as playing goes, to think she is going to miss the season," Broncos game development manager Paul Dyer told NRL.com.
CRL Newcastle’s Hannah Southwell, a former Australian rugby sevens representative and national age soccer goalkeeper, has been called into cover Moran for NSW Country at this weekend’s tournament on the Gold Coast. Young said Samantha Bremner and Nakia Davis Welsh are possible replacements in the halves.
Meanwhile, Western Suburbs veteran Warren Schillings has been named captain of the men’s senior Newcastle representative team ahead of Friday night’s clash with a Ron Massey Cup select side at Maitland Sportsground.
Kick-off is 7:30pm.
