WHILE no phone calls have been made yet, Wee Waa fullback Scott Spencer hopes that Jamie Lyon might return to the Panthers next season after announcing that this would be his last year playing NRL with Manly sea Eagles, and the Second Division club could use the extra depth after travelling to Kootingal on Saturday with only 13 players.
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Lyon last played for the Panthers in 2004 after retiring from the NRL the first time, the Panthers going on to take out the Wests Cup that season, although a few lean years have followed.
The Panthers only played reserve grade last season, although winning the premiership, before dropping back to the Second Division Cup this year.
At Kootingal, the visitors led in the first half a couple of times as the two sides went try for try until it was 18-all after the break.
The Panthers looked out on their feet early, although Spencer said it was a tactic the side had decided to use to try to spare their legs with no players on the bench.
“We decided to walk to scrums and penalties and any other stoppages to try to save ourselves as much as we could,” Spencer said.
The ploy worked for an hour, although in the final 20 minutes of play the Roosters started running tries in to run away with the game 42-18 for their first win of the season after having the first-week bye.
While Spencer might have been saving his legs, he was also saving the life of Kootingal prop Leroy Murray, who had a sickening head clash with fellow prop Grayson Bradbury and was in a bad way on the field.
Spencer went straight to action trying to clear the airways of the big prop, who briefly wasn’t breathing and started convulsing on the field.
Fortunately two of the Kootingal league tag girls, Alex White and Joey Sullivan, are ambulance officers and also went straight into action, with referee Christian Petherbridge claiming that Spencer’s quick thinking and the two girls might have saved Murray’s life.
For Spencer, it was just one mate looking after another.
“He is a Narrabri boy and I hope that someone would do that for me if I was lying there like that,” Spencer said.
“I didn’t know if he was choking on his tongue or on blood but it wasn’t good.
“It was the biggest hit I have ever seen on the football field.”
Roosters coach Paul Hyson said that Murray was discharged from hospital later that night and is on the mend, although the doctors did find a bulged disc in his neck.
For the Panthers, it is back to the drawing board, although Spencer did think they showed some positive signs and plenty of courage to play with no bench.
“The boys who turned up today and the others who told us they couldn’t make it will stay in the run-on side,” Spencer said.
“We will always be better at home and should have a few more players coming back into the side soon.”
Wee Waa will now have two weeks off to recover, with the City-Country full round bye this weekend followed by the competition bye the following week before they look for their maiden win when they host Bundarra.