Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold has refused to speculate on how long David Fifita will be sidelined by knee surgery, only conceding the back-rower will miss their NRL return match in May.
The Broncos gave no timeline on Fifita’s return after revealing on Monday the Queensland State of Origin forward had recently undergone an operation to repair a lateral meniscus tear.
Speculation is rife Fifita could be sidelined from four weeks up to four months.
But Seibold didn’t give away too much on Thursday, revealing only Fifita would not be available when the NRL returns on May 28 after going under the knife several weeks ago.
“He won’t be right for May 28 but I won’t give any time frame after that,” Seibold told NRL.com.
“He hurt his knee in round one, and obviously played very well against South Sydney in round two.”
Seibold had no regrets over Fifita opting to take advantage of the coronavirus shutdown to have the operation, saying the decision was made well before the May 28 NRL return date had been finalised.
“It made sense to have the repair done while we weren’t playing,” he said.
“You have to understand we were talking about the game not getting up and running until August or September.
“Often these repairs are done at the end of the season and we had the time at the time.”
Seibold said the Broncos would not rush Fifita back with the undefeated Broncos expected to welcome back forwards Matt Lodge (knee), new skipper Alex Glenn (hamstring) and Joe Ofahengaue (suspension) when the NRL re-starts.
“It’s great that we’re coming back May 28 but David will be about seven or eight weeks into his rehab by then,” he said.
“We won’t put any pressure on David or the medical staff to get him back before he’s ready.”