Knights hooker Jayden Brailey has undergone surgery in Sydney to repair partially ruptured knee ligaments that will sideline him for up to nine months - but it could have been far worse.
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Brailey could have been facing more than 12 months out of the game had his knee reconstruction been delayed because of Federal government bans on elective surgery due to the coronavirus pandemic. It's understood the quick actions of the club's medical staff in organising a specialist before the deadline to operate yesterday saved Brailey from a potential six-month wait.
As it stands now, there is still a slim possibility he could be back on the field again later this year if the NRL premiership was to resume in September and he makes a strong recovery.
Knee reconstructions generally take anywhere from six to nine months to rehabilitate. But given his importance to the team and the club's recent history with similar injuries, the Knights may decide to err on the side of caution and make sure he is fully fit and healthy to resume his career in 2021.
"The main thing is we give Jayden some time now to recuperate from the operation then do the rehab on it and make sure he's right," Knights coach Adam O'Brien told the Newcastle Herald.
"If the competition was to start again and run into December, he might even be able to get back. But if we need to, we'll play the long game with this one."
Brailey messaged his coach via text after the operation to tell him it had been successful and the specialist was happy with the result.
"He's just relieved to have had it done," O'Brien said. "It would have been really tough on him to have to wait around because it had locked up on him badly."
O'Brien admitted everyone was surprised and disappointed that scans on the knee last Monday following the win over the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval the previous day had revealed the damage. Brailey suffered the injury just before halftime after a slight collision with rival Tigers hooker Billy Walters but played the full game and picked up maximum Dally M Medal points for his efforts after having his right knee strapped at halftime.
"I've looked at the tackle a hundred times and it's pretty innocuous," O'Brien said.
"He's just copped a bit of a knock on the leg and it's gone the wrong way because his foot was planted.
"If his foot had have been slightly rotated to the side, he might have got away with it. He's been very unlucky unfortunately."
O'Brien said his hooker did not believe he had suffered major damage.
"He felt it obviously but he's a tough kid and played on and he was really surprised that he'd done what he did to it," he said. "The next day, it just really deteriorated and the scans revealed it. It's been pretty debilitating actually."
Signed by the Knights from the Sharks for this season, Brailey was among the side's best players in the opening two games of the season and is highly rated by the coaching staff and his teammates.
"He is a quality player and more important, he's a quality person and a really good young kid so I'm happy for him that he is now going to be on the mend," O'Brien said.
Meanwhile, the Knights will have to wait until Monday to find out the full extent of the NRL's financial position due to the competition shut-down and how much their next grant will be.
The players are also awaiting details of the pay cut they can expect, which could be as high as 87 percent if there are no further games this season.
Knights players have all been given personalised training regimes and have been told to self-isolate until such time as they get a direction on if they are allowed to train in small groups.
The Knights gym at the club's Mayfield headquarters was cleaned out by the players on Wednesday following a meeting with officials.
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