Brisbane Broncos recruit Dale Copley suffers sickening throat injury

A fresh Brisbane Broncos recruit is out for the first month of the NRL season following a sickening injury in the weekend trial.

Broncos new recruit Dale Copley will miss the first month of the NRL season after suffering a serious throat injury during the club’s trial match against Wynnum Manly on Friday.

The 29-year-old had scans over the weekend which revealed dislocated cartilage and a small fracture in his throat.

Medical specialists performed a laryngoscopy which found “significant trauma to the throat and swelling in his airway”.

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Brisbane Broncos head of performance Andrew Croll said Copley will be out for at least six weeks to recover from the injury.

Dale Copley during his time with the Titans.

“Dale must rest from all exercise for at least a week and will have another laryngoscopy to determine if he needs surgery,” Croll said.

“He will need at least six weeks out of contact, and we will have to see how it settles to determine on when he can return to low intensity exercise.”

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The luckless outside back has been plagued by injuries during his NRL career, having been ruled out of the latter stages of the 2020 season with a torn pec.

He was also sidelined for two weeks last year with a Grade 1 syndesmosis injury.

Shoulder surgery ended his 2019 season prematurely while Copley was hampered by a hamstring injury during 2018.