Young Broncos gun David Fifita joins list of Brisbane players set for surgery

DAVID Fifita is the latest Broncos young gun to go under the knife, with the boom Brisbane back-rower to be sidelined until Christmas after having surgery on Thursday.

Brisbane’s David Fifita will go for surgery on his injured ankle. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

DAVID Fifita is the latest Broncos young gun to go under the knife, with the boom Brisbane back-rower to be sidelined until Christmas after having surgery on Thursday.

The exciting 18-year-old required an operation on his ankle after sustaining ligament damage in the Broncos’ season-ending 48-18 finals loss to the Dragons last Sunday.

In just his 11th top-grade game and his maiden finals match, Fifita scored Brisbane’s opening try, but finished the match in pain on dual fronts after the Broncos’ drubbing was compounded by his ankle setback.

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Brisbane’s David Fifita will go for surgery on his injured ankle. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

Brisbane’s impressive production line of stars have had a wretched run with injuries this season, with fellow rookies Payne Haas (shoulder) and Jaydn Su’A (ankle) also requiring surgery.

Fifita will miss the start of Brisbane’s pre-season in November but is expected to resume full training before Christmas, ensuring he will be on deck for the Broncos’ trial matches in 2019.

“David will have surgery on an unstable syndesmosis joint as the ligaments surrounding it are torn,” Broncos high-performance chief Jeremy Hickmans said.

“On a positive note they did not find any fracture in the joint.

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“He will be back in full training after a three-month recovery period.”

Ironically, it was injuries to other Broncos that helped pave the way for Fifita’s unexpected debut.

The 18-year-old Haas damaged his shoulder in just his third NRL game in May, prompting coach Wayne Bennett to blood Fifita the following month against Canberra after Joe Ofahengaue was ruled out on match morning.

The 110kg Fifita hit the ground running in the NRL and has been so impressive he will push for a bench spot in a full-strength Broncos team next season.

Matt Gillett recently had a shoulder reconstruction. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Fifita will also be joined in the casualty ward by Queensland Origin back-rower Matt Gillett, who faces a lengthier five-to-six month recovery after recently undergoing a shoulder reconstruction.

Coach Bennett was confident the Broncos would start the 2019 pre-season in good shape.

“I’m pretty optimistic we will start next season with everybody available,” he said. “There’s no World Cup this year so it’s an opportunity for us to have a good pre-season and get going early.”

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Originally published as Young Broncos gun David Fifita joins list of Brisbane players set for surgery