The Manly Sea Eagles have confirmed prop Taniela Paseka has undergone surgery to repair his ruptured achilles tendon.
The prop, who missed a chunk of the 2024 season with injury, suffered his latest blow on Sunday evening as the Sea Eagles hammered the Canberra Raiders at home to conclude Round 3.
The Sea Eagles do expect Paseka to be back prior to the 2025 season concluding despite the nature of the injury, putting a 16 to 20 week recovery window on him.
It means Paseka is aiming, at the latest, to be available to play in Round 25, however, Achilles injuries are notorious for not healing at the pace expected, whether that be a positive or negative result.
It's a crushing blow for Manly who have started the season well, but now need to replace their forward pack leader in the coming months.
So far this year, it has appeared there was not going to be room in the match day 17 at full strength for one of Josh Aloiai or Toafofoa Sipley, who missed the most recent contest against Canberra after being dropped.
Coach Anthony Seibold has moved Josh Aloiai into the starting side, but maybe surprisingly, has not recalled Sipley to his bench. Instead, he wll turn to the aggression of Nathan Brown as he looks to find an edge of aggression that will be missing with Paseka's injury.
Manly clash with Parramatta on Sunday afternoon after two wins from three games to open the season, with tougher matches against the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks (in Perth) to follow.
