Gundagai is playing a waiting game to see if star lock Brett Eccleston will be fit for the preliminary final against Junee on Sunday.
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Eccleston didn’t play against Southcity after injuring his pectoral muscle in the first week of the finals in the win over the Diesels.
He rated himself about a 50-50 chance of being fit for the clash at Harris Park.
“It is a big game and that is what makes it so hard,” Eccleston said. “It is so frustrating to see the boys give 100 per cent on the weekend and me sitting on the sidelines.
“It really hurts as it has happened to me a few times now.
“It is last thing I wanted to happen to me this year, I just wanted to get through the season uninjured, but that isn’t the way it goes.”
The 32-year-old is no stranger to the concern.
He first injured his pectoral while in the Newcastle Knights system more than a decade ago before injuring the other one while playing for Bondi United last season.
“I’ve had no luck at all with my pecs,” he said.
“I have done both of them.
“I did the one that is sore last year so it is not a very good injury at all.”
One positive is that Eccleston doesn’t believe the injury is as bad as his previous experiences.
“It is definitely not as bad as the first couple but it feels like it did before I tore it fully,” he said. “Last year I was going into a few games with a sore pec, like it is now, and that was enough to set it off.
“If the pain is gone I will play 100 per cent but at the moment I am still struggling to roll over in bed, cough, sneeze and laugh.
“Unless that pain goes away I don’t think I will be playing.”
The lock played out the game against the Diesels and it wasn’t until the next morning that he realised something was wrong.
“I was really sore over my whole body after the Junee game as it was a physical game and it wasn’t until everything went away that I was still very sore in the chest,” Eccleston said.
“When I was struggling to sleep and roll I thought it was just general soreness, but then when I got out of bed my pec was all bruised.”
Eccleston has made a big impact since returning to the Tigers.
When the Weissel Medal vote was last revealed with five weeks left in the season he was level with Junee fullback Daniel Foley.
Captain-coach James Smart said he would be given every chance to prove his fitness.