Jahrome Hughes has had surgery to repair the forearm fracture suffered in Melbourne’s Round 27 loss to Brisbane.
Speaking on the One Six Seven podcast the Storm star revealed he was hopeful of returning in time for a preliminary final should Melbourne qualify—the fastest turnaround ever seen in the NRL for such an injury.
While technically possible following surgical repair, the risks of such a rapid return are significant according to NRL Physio, Brien Seeney.
“A lot of (recovery) timeframes are very fluid at this time of year because teams take more risk, because there’s more reward on the line,” Seeney explained on this week’s Magic Sponge podcast.
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“We’ve seen wrist fractures come back in 3-4 weeks, but we have not seen that for a mid-shaft radius fracture, which is what it looks like, it’s a really tough bone to try and accelerate,” he said of the Hughes injury.
Seeney gave the example of the fastest documented turnaround in the NRL era—Brisbane Broncos warrior Shane Webcke who famously played in the 2000 preliminary and grand finals just five weeks after breaking his left arm.
“Webcke had a five-week return after fracturing his radius, his arm guard was literally like a goal post strapped to his arm, it was crazy,” Seeney said.
“He played knowing it was still fractured, he was at an increased risk, but he played.”
So, given everything Seeney knows, could Hughes come back this season?
“It is definitely physically possible that he could return, but it would be returning faster than any player ever has,” he said.
“Can he return? Yes. But will he be able to perform at the level required? There’s going to be a lot of pain in and around that area—and then the re-fracture risk if it’s not completely healed, which it won’t be, is going to be quite significant.”
Seeney explained that even following the surgical insertion of a plate to stabilise Hughes’ forearm, the risks were still high.
“You do risk fracturing it further and you’ve got nerves running through there, so there’s a risk of nerve damage, vascular damage,” he said.
Remarkably, should the Storm defeat the Bulldogs on Friday night and Hughes indeed be able to return in time for the preliminary final, the Kiwi international will have missed just one NRL game.