Storm boss Frank Ponissi has admitted that star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen is no guarantee to play in Round 1 next year, as his lengthy recovery for a serious knee injury continues.
The 24-year-old missed the back-half of 2022 after suffering a fractured kneecap against Canberra, before undergoing surgery and beginning a gruelling rehab journey.
Papenhuyzen is among Melbourne's most important players, and after losing plenty of experienced names heading into the 2023 campaign, the club could be forgiven for pushing him for a return.
But speaking on SEN Radio, Ponissi said the Storm wouldn't rush the No.1 but they are hoping he could be fit for the season opener against Parramatta.
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“Ryan’s probably the player who has still got a bit of work to do,” he said.
“At this stage, he’s going along nicely, but he’s still got a lot of work to do before we count him in for Round 1.
"The plan is we will count him in for Round 1...it was a major injury, multiple fractures in his kneecap."
Papenhuyzen has documented some of his rehab journey via his social media accounts, but the full extent of his injury may be lost on a lot of casual rugby league fans.
Ponissi explained just how little the speedster could do in the initial weeks and months after suffering the injury, and believes he won't rejoin the main group at Melbourne until the end of January at the earliest.
“For the first couple of months, he couldn’t do anything at all," Ponissi said.
"He’s just building his leg up, obviously he’s nowhere near ready for full training at this stage.
"[He is] continuing a pretty extensive rehab program...[we are hoping] come the end of January, or early February, that he is back in full training and then he can start some contact work.
“We start the new season in early March, so it is going to be touch and go and we certainly won’t rush him for Round 1.
"If he’s right to play we’ll play him, otherwise we’ll hold him off till he’s ready.”
Papenhuyzen isn't the only Storm player dealing with a lengthy rehab process heading into 2023.
Christian Welch recently spoke about his own issues, recovering from an Achilles rupture that saw his entire 2022 season go up in smoke, while the likes of Reimis Smith and George Jennings also missed the majority of the season.
