Anthony Seibold has revealed that the Manly Sea Eagles are expecting Matt Lodge to return in just over a month from now.
Lodge ruptured his ACL last season and was expected to miss a significant chunk of this season, but the update from Seibold has him returning in four weeks.
This will make him available to be selected for the club's Round 6 match against the New Zealand Warriors.
His updated injury timeline would mean that it took him less than eight months to recover from the injury - four months before his return was initially reported.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the front-rower has sped through his recovery process and will increase his training load in the next couple of weeks (if given the green light to do so).
โWe're expecting him to be ready in about four weeks,โ Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.
โHe should be available to play in that time, but we'll know a bit more after the testing. He's just integrated back into skills this week.
โHe's fit. He's done a lot of boxing and a lot of wrestle. He's a really diligent trainer.
"There's another young fella called Zane Dunford who did his ACL in Jersey Flegg, but he's been full-time with us in our train and trial squad. Lodgey has been excellent with him."
Last year, Lodge joined from the Sydney Roosters on a train-and-trial contract, but due to the departures of Sean Keppie and Christian Tuipulotu, he has been promoted to the club's Top 30 roster.
His availability would add to an already impressive forward pack that includes Josh Aloiai, Jake Trbojevic, Nathan Brown, Taniela Paseka, Tofoa Sipley and Aaron Woods and Aitasi James who are signed on development contracts.
