Raiders workhorse Shaun Fensom admits the season-ending injury to exciting winger Edrick Lee is a blow to the Green Machine's premiership campaign but says the squad has full faith in replacement Bill Tupou to get the job done.
Fensom, who returns this week against the Rabbitohs after a one-week suspension, said the club would support Lee through his recovery after the speedster was ruled out with foot ligament damage.
“It’s a very unfortunate injury and you know it’s a bit of a freak injury there I think on his foot. I’m not too sure if it was in a tackle or he just did it running,” Fensom said.
“It’s very unfortunate for him but we’ll get behind him and support him in his recovery.
“[Edrick’s] a quality player and he’s a very good finisher for us and he scores a lot of tries but we got a lot of depth here in the outside backs,” Fensom said.
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“Bill Tupou gets his chance to come into the side and you know he’s played for us before and he’s done quite well.”
Fensom himself has faced recent dramas after missing last weekend’s game against the Titans due to suspension but says that he ready to go with all guns blazing against a monster South Sydney pack.
“I can’t wait – I sat last week out due to suspension but I’m back in the side this week and it’s going to be a good challenge,” Fensom said.
“They are quite a big forward pack but we’re not a small forward pack either so it’s going to be a good battle.
“They like to punch up the middle – they’ve got us a few times up the middle in previous games and we’ve been working hard on stopping that.”
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While the Rabbitohs are looking to bouncing back from a last-start loss, Fensom believes his side didn’t play all that badly last Sunday night – the loss of Lee having significant impact in the wash-up.
“That injury to Edrick reshuffled us around a little bit and there were boys playing out of position but I thought we went well,” Fensom said.
