Surgery may have been ruled out for Alex Glenn but the Brisbane skipper is still expected to be sidelined for an extended period with a knee injury that marred a drought breaking NRL win over Canterbury.
Beaming Broncos coach Anthony Seibold cut a relieved figure after his side snapped a six-game losing streak with Saturday’s 26-8 win over dead-last Canterbury, marking 113 days since their last victory in March.
But Seibold will still be an anxious man when Glenn undergoes scans after suffering a suspected medial ligament injury in an ugly 54th-minute cannonball tackle that resulted in Bulldogs centre Reimis Smith being placed on report.
Seibold said medical staff were confident that former Kiwi international Glenn had not suffered a season ending ACL and would not go under the knife.
But it appears a best case scenario would be three weeks on the sidelines and six to 10 weeks at worst.
It is another blow for Glenn who has been in and out of the side in his first year as skipper, missing the first two games of the season with a hamstring complaint before spending another fortnight out with a nasty leg gash.
“He’s not real good, I think it is an MCL. Lexy knew straight away, he felt the pop,” Seibold said.
“He will need a brace but he won’t need an operation (but) he will miss a period of footy.”
It was Seibold’s only complaint after Brisbane found a way to finally notch their first victory since the NRL’s resumption in late May.
The error-riddled match was ugly to watch but Seibold was only interested in looking at the fulltime scoreboard after enduring a nightmare run that had led to calls for him to be dumped barely 18 months into his five-year Broncos deal.
“You go to bed happier after a win, let’s be honest. It has been a challenging six weeks,” he said.
“I will keep working hard until I am no longer required. Hopefully that is in a few years’ time.”
And it seems he will go on his terms, claiming he was still in charge after playing down reports there had been player-driven changes to training this week.
Team golf days and optional training sessions were introduced ahead of the Bulldogs clash to try to help players rediscover their love of the game following their tough run.
Seibold conceded he wanted the leadership group to take more control of training to freshen up his besieged players but said the two main sessions of the week were still his domain.
“The start of our week with the recovery day and the end of our week with the last session, they are things that I wanted to hand over to the guys,” he said.
“(But) we had two big work days this week and they are things I don’t compromise on.”
