By Canadian Press

Toronto Wolfpack low on bodies due to injuries, player exits as season looms

Jan 25, 2018 | 12:40 PM

The season hasn’t started yet and the Toronto Wolfpack are already hurting.

The second-year rugby league team has a long list of walking wounded as it heads into its lone pre-season game Friday at the Bradford Bulls. And the transatlantic squad is still reeling from the sudden departure of marquee forwards Fuifui Moimoi, Ryan Bailey and Dave Taylor.

“Effectively I’ve just lost my three most decorated players,” said coach Paul Rowley. “Any coach of any sport, to lose their three most decorated players, it doesn’t set them in a good position really in terms of on the field.

“And aside from that, on a personal level obviously you grow attached to players and I’ll miss the boys as will their teammates. However as I’ve always said there’s nobody bigger than the club and the club will always move on regardless. And that’s what we’ve got to do.”

The Wolfpack have not given a reason for severing ties with the three former internationals. Misbehaviour at a warm weather camp in Portugal appears the likeliest explanation given their unexpected and rapid departure.

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Moimoi, a former Tongan and New Zealand international, was a cult hero in Australia’s NRL with more than 200 appearances for the Parramatta Eels. And the 38-year-old quickly became a fan favourite in Toronto, barrelling through would-be tacklers like a six-foot 242-pound wrecking ball.

Bailey, a former England and Great Britain international who was hard to miss given he had the words Love and Hate tattooed on his eyelids, was hampered by injury last season with the Wolfpack. Taylor, a former Australian international, signed in the off-season and never made it to Canada.

Rowley has other issues as he prepares for the Feb. 4 season opener at Leigh Centurions, his former club, in the second-tier Championship.

Gary Wheeler twisted an ankle in a scrimmage earlier this week against Hull FC. Fellow centre Tom Armstrong is recovering from a hip operations. Winger Jonny Pownall has a hip flexor. American winger Ryan Burroughs is recovering from a serious hamstring injury. And forward Ashton Sims, the team’s vice-captain, suffered a leg injury while in Portugal.

The good news is captain Josh McCrone, who will pull the strings from scrum half, is back from off-season groin surgery.

Newcomers this season are Australians Cory Paterson and McCrone, Albanian-born Olsi Krasniqi, Fiji international Sims and England’s Armstrong, Andy Ackers, Adam Higson, Sam Hopkins and Joe Westerman.

In addition to Moimoi, Bailey and Taylor, former captain Craig Hall, Steve Crossley, Tom Dempsey, Dan Fleming, Rhys Jacks and Sean Penkywicz have left the team since last season.

The Wolfpack website currently lists the roster stands at 25, with 16 holdovers. The team dresses 17 per game.

“We’re down to bare bones,” said Rowley, a former England hooker.

“We’re looking for new recruits but it’s not a good time of year to go shopping,” he added.

Despite the injury woes, the team had hoped to loan young Canadian back Quinn Ngwati to another team for seasoning and playing time, only to be told visa issues won’t permit it.

“It’s just another of these ridiculous rules,” said Rowley.

Toronto, which trains out of Manchester while on the other side of the Atlantic, starts the regular season with 11 games in England. The home games have been stacked at the end of the season due to renovations to the artificial turf at Lamport Stadium.

Essentially the regular season will go in two halves — away and then home.

Toronto won the Kingstone Press League 1 last season to win promotion to the Championship.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press