Craig Fitzgibbon has confirmed fill-in fullback Connor Tracey is locked in to face the Roosters on Saturday despite leaving the field early last week after jarring his knee.
A battle for the No. 1 position was looming after first-choice fullback Will Kennedy (hamstring) was listed among the reserve as a possibility to return for his first game since Round 22.
But after scans cleared any serious damage to Tracey’s knee this week, the Cronulla coach said the 27-year-old utility is still the best man for the job in Saturday night’s elimination final.
“Connor is looking like he’s good to go. The benefit of having a 22-man squad is, if in the event if Connor wasn’t going to be right, we would put Will in there,” Fitzgibbon told the media on Friday.
“Will hasn’t trained much at all in six weeks. If something was to happen to Connor there and we couldn’t get him up then we might’ve had to roll the dice and take a risk on Will.
“To say that his preparation was ready for that was going to take a huge effort from Will and a big risk but we thought we’d offer that in the case that Connor couldn’t get up but he’s looking good.”
Tracey: I'm good to go
Tracey spent most of the season in NSW Cup but since being handed the No. 1 jersey in Round 21, has played a big part in Cronulla’s recent run to earn a home elimination final.
Averaging over 200 run metres and three tackle breaks in his past five games at fullback, Fitzgibbon has full faith in Tracey to spearhead his side’s attack at Shark Park on Saturday night.
Tracey all effort all the time
“His style of play is very combative. He gets after the game, he’s tough, carries the ball strong and defensively he’s been very good,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We obviously hit the skids there in the mid part of the year and it coincided with a number of key injuries…but whoever has come in has arrested that slide and been really competitive in the last six weeks of the season.
“We’ve got all the confidence in Connor and are backing him in.”
Meanwhile, Roosters coach Trent Robinson revealed on Friday star centre Joseph Manu is on track to return from a hamstring injury on Saturday.
After straining his hamstring less than two weeks ago, the Golden Boot winner resumed full training this week and will undergo a final fitness test in Friday’s captain’s run to decide if he will line up in the sudden-death showdown.
Manu off injured
“He should be right, today is the final test but he should be right to go,” Fitzgibbon said on Friday.
“He tried to train last week but couldn’t get there so this week he’s had one good session already and he needs to nail his final session today to get across the line, move a bit faster.”
“So we’ll test that today and get ready for tomorrow.”
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