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Sport Nation
Find your frequency here'He's absolutely flying': Warriors midfield ace Berry tracking well with injury recovery
Stephen Foote • February 17th, 2025 2:20 pm
Photo: Photosport
The NZ Warriors are cautiously biding their time with the recovery of Rocco Berry but insist their key midfielder is rapidly closing in on a return to play.
Berry hasn't featured for the club since early June, when he was forced from the field with a shoulder injury during the early stages of the Warriors's round 15 defeat to the Melbourne Storm at Mt Smart.
The 23-year-old was eventually diagnosed with nerve damage, which assistant coach Richard Agar notes is notoriously difficult to provide a prognosis for relative to the more common muscle-related issues.
While Berry still hasn't yet graduated to full contact, Agar says his performance through pre-season training has been hugely encouraging, with no signs of any setback.
"At the moment, he's absolutely flying," Agar told Sport Nation's Mornings.
"He looks extremely fit. His skills certainly have not deserted him in his time out of the game, that's for sure. He's been able to almost do a full pre-season but without the contact.
"I know the last bits of news he got were very, very positive and he's heading absolutely in the right direction."
Berry has been one of the lesser heralded stars for the Warriors over the past two years, providing the defensive bedrock of the Warriors' midfield and playing a huge role in the high-flying try-scoring exploits of wing Dallin Watene-Zeleniak with his clinical delivery.
Who plays on Warriors wing without DWZ? | Running It Straight
His absence left a significant void last season, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, with opposition offences taking advantage of the often makeshift nature of the Warriors' centre pairing through their disappointing sophomore campaign under Andrew Webster.
The highly sensitive nature of Berry's issue and its susceptibility to reinjury mean the Warriors need to be especially vigilant managing his comeback, Agar adds, and there's still no target date pencilled.
That said, all the right flags are being raised and suggests fans can expect to see him back on the paddock - all things going to plan - in the early stages of the Warriors' 2025 schedule.
"If we rushed him back, it'd be susceptible to dislocating the shoulder or things like that. But I can say it's tracking very much in the right direction," said Agar. "We've not got a set date but there's very much light at the end of the tunnel with it.
"It would have been a difficult one rolling back when he first did it. There are a lot of unknowns about the injury and I think we've seen in the past, some of these injuries take a long long time to heal and unfortunately, in some cases, players have not managed to get back from them.
"But that's not going to be the case. He's tracking really well, and without putting a timeframe on it, he's heading in the right direction and it probably shouldn't be too long."
The Warriors will likely look to Ali Leiataua and Adam Pompey as their starting centre tandem when they face the Canberra Raiders in their season opener in Las Vegas on March 2 (NZ time).
Sport Nation has live commentary of every NZ Warriors home and away game this NRL season, starting with Las Vegas on March 2nd (NZT).
