An irritated Paul Gallen has dismissed any prospect of Todd Carney being fit to face Manly in Cronulla’s NRL semi-final clash on Friday.
Carney was greeted by a media scrum as the Sharks arrived at Sydney Football Stadium for their final hit-out before facing the Sea Eagles and said once again he was struggling to be fit.
“You’re always hopeful, but it didn’t go real well when I ran this morning,” Carney said as he entered the ground.
The representative five-eighth has not been named in the starting line-up, with Luke Lewis to wear the number six shirt, having aggravated a hamstring injury in last week’s 20-18 win over North Queensland.
But he has been undergoing intensive physiotherapy to get himself fit all week, leading to suggestions he might run out against the Sea Eagles - something Gallen was keen to hose down.
“He’s not playing - everyone knows he’s not playing so there is no point running around with it,” Gallen said.
"You guys (the media) can run a story on it, but he won’t be playing. I am sick of talking about it.
“I knew he wouldn’t be playing from the last game - come on boys, ask some serious questions.”
Manly’s hopes of Brett Stewart are fading after the NSW full-back failed to train on Thursday.
Coach Geoff Toovey said earlier this week the 28-year-old (check) would be given as long as possible to prove his fitness after sustaining a similar injury to Carney and missing out last week.
The absence of their best strike weapon will be huge blow to the Sea Eagles, who failed to trouble the scorers in the epic 4-0 defeat by the Sydney Roosters.
Gallen said the Sharks are expecting Stewart to play, but denied Manly will be easier to beat with him on the sidelines after young Kiwi full-back Peta Hiku deputised in more than admirable fashion last Saturday.
“We think he’ll play, and we’re preparing for him to play,” he said.
"But even if he doesn’t, the young bloke who played there last week did really well.
“They’ve got strike all over the field and it is going to be a big game.”
Stewart is the only injury doubt for the Sea Eagles but there are question marks about how much last Saturday’s loss took out of Toovey’s side.
But despite the six-day turnaround, Gallen believes no team is better equipped to back up from such a physical battle than the 2011 premiers.
“We’d like to play a more physical game,” the 32-year-old enforcer said.
"We didn’t play that well against the Cowboys last week but we got the win.
“People talk about Manly being battered and bruised. But they play that type of football every week and it won’t affect them or slow them down one bit.”