Tanginoa in line for surprise return

Manly forward Kelepi Tanginoa is in line to make an early return from what was originally diagnosed as a serious knee injury.

Tanginoa suffered a multiple ligament left knee injury against the Raiders in round four, and was initially thought to have been season-ending given the club's medical team thought he has ruptured his ACL.

However, follow up scans revealed an intact ACL, meaning he could return to the field within the next two months.

"An MRI showed a high grade MCL and a partially, but probably disrupted, ACL,'' Sea Eagles Head Physiotherapist Andre Rickenbach told seaeagles.com.au.

"Due to the nature of the ACL injury, he was given minimal chance of it healing and was put in a brace for six weeks for his MCL to repair.

"In order to not put any undue pressure or expectation upon the player, the Club announced it as a season ending injury, again due to the fact we thought it had a minimal chance of healing.

"We were expecting Kelepi to have an ACL reconstruction once he came out of the brace.

"However upon a functional re-assessment of his ACL, it was found to be equal to that of his right knee. A follow up MRI revealed an intact ACL.

"Kelepi will now undergo an appropriate rehabilitation program and we hope to see him return in five to six weeks."

With Tanginoa now set to play again this season, it leaves only Lachlan Croker and Curtis Sironen as the only two players ruled out of the rest of the 2018 campaign with knee injuries.