North Queensland Fury are likely to be without key players Isaka Cernak and Chris Payne for Saturday night’s clash against the Newcastle Jets.
Both players suffered injuries in the Fury’s 1-1 draw against Perth Glory last weekend with Cernak experiencing knee problems and Payne a hamstring injury.
Assistant Coach Stuart McLaren tried to look on the positive side of Cernak’s injury as it could have been more serious.
“Isaka Cernak is still fighting problems he’s had surrounding his knee. We’ve had that scanned and we will have a sit down and chat with the medical staff and see what the findings were,” he said.
“I think the positive thing about that is that there is no real serious damage. It’s just a case of I guess mapping out a treatment plan and a rehab plan to limit whatever damage is in there and seeing what Isaka is capable of.”
Despite these injuries McLaren was confident his team could still produce results as they did against Gold Coast United.
“We could be without those two guys but at the same time that’s what the squad is all about and the squad proved that they were capable on Wednesday,” he added.
McLaren and coach Franz Straka had not yet decided whether they were going to stick with the line-up that produced the 2-1 win over Gold Coast or make changes.
“You’ve got to sit down and assess it properly. Do you just go with the same thing and hope that you can produce the same results or do you look at Newcastle and see whether we need to tinker with something?” McLaren said.
“We’ll make that decision as we go through today and let the players know before they have to report tomorrow.”
North Queensland Fury take on the Newcastle Jets on Saturday night at Dairy Farmers Stadium at 8:15pm.
