Missing out on the entire 2024 NRL season, Canterbury Bulldogs youngster Karl Oloapu has been cleared to make his return next season after undergoing career-threatening spinal surgery.
Before the start of last year's Pacific Championships, it was revealed that Oloapu played through most of the 2023 season in pain and had to undergo neck surgery after suffering neck pains.
The 19-year-old needed cervical fusion surgery after being born with a medical condition that every time he flexed his neck or looked down, it actually pressed on his spinal cord, causing damage.
Pinned as the club's next big thing, Oloapu's injury put a halt on his career, and there was even chatter that he could have been forced into medical retirement.
However, Zero Tackle understands that he has now been cleared to train and is looking to make his NRL return next season in 2025.*
"It's massive. I kind of think everyone forgot about him in a way," teammate Jacob Kiraz told Zero Tackle.
"We all saw every day what he's been doing in rehab behind the scenes, and when he got cleared to play for him and his family at such a young age, that would have been a massive thing, especially when it could be career ending.
"I'm so happy for him and his family. He's a good talent, and people forget he's only 19, so it's crazy."
Rated as one of the best halves throughout his junior years, Oloapu signed with the Brisbane Broncos at the age of 13 before appearing in seven first-grade matches in 2023.
His rookie NRL season came after a controversial off-season move from the Broncos, where the Bulldogs paid big money in a transfer to secure his services until the end of the 2026 NRL season.
Seen as a five-eighth, the rise of Mitchell Woods and the breakout season of Toby Sexton has created chatter that he could transition into a lock forward due to his perfect passing ability and not scared to do the gritty work in defence.
"He's done a really good job – 18 years of age and before he got here, the only football he had really played was at schoolboy level," Phil Gould has said in the past.
"He didn't do the off-season with us and he was blooded before his time a little bit, in a position that he's not going to play long-term. We used him as a halfback there, just to give us a little bit of control, and I thought he did an outstanding job.
"I see him as a lock-forward, very much in the Cameron Murray mould, and I think he's gonna be a really great player for this club for a long time."
*First reported by The Daily Telegraph