Serious knee injury brings McInnes’ Dragons stint to sad end
Cameron McInnes has played his last game for the Dragons after rupturing his ACL at St George Illawarra training.
The club’s skipper, who last week signed a four-year deal to join arch rivals Cronulla from 2022, will have surgery to repair the problem.
Cameron McInnes has played his last game for the Dragons after an ACL rupture.Credit:Getty
It’s a sad end for the club’s best player over the last two seasons, who openly admitted he wanted to sort his future before the start of this campaign, prompting him to sign with the Sharks after the Dragons put contract offers the backburner with current players.
The Dragons are due to play the Sharks in a trial on Friday evening. McInnes was not scheduled to play with only players who featured in 12 games or less last season named.
The injury will be a massive blow to coach Anthony Griffin’s chances of rejuvenating the Dragons, which many are tipping to be fighting to avoid the wooden spoon this year.
The Dragons are on the cusp of signing Brisbane veteran Andrew McCullough, who has been given permission to leave the Broncos. The arrival of the former State of Origin hooker was tipped to shunt McInnes back to lock, where he is expected to play at the Sharks.
His injury will mean Griffin will now have to elect a new captain for the Dragons after McInnes said last week he understood if the former Broncos and Panthers coach wanted to choose another on-field leader given his imminent defection to Cronulla.
There is still uncertainty over whether Jack de Belin will play at all again for the Red V as he faces a retrial on sexual assault charges after a unanimous verdict in his case could not be reached late last year.
More to come
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Adam Pengilly is a Sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.