Brisbane winger Jharal Yow Yeh is likely to miss the rest of the NRL season after undergoing surgery on a broken ankle, but the horrific injury isn’t expected to be career-threatening.
Yow Yeh remains in a Perth hospital after suffering a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in the Broncos’ 20-12 triumph over the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
Such was the devastating nature of the injury, broken bone pierced through Yow Yeh’s lower right leg, leaving the speedster in distress in the in-goal area after contesting a cross-field kick with Rabbitohs winger Dylan Farrell.
The 22-year-old faces a second operation in the coming days, with a timeline on his return to be set once he sees a specialist, but the chances of Yow Yeh appearing again this season are slim at best.
Yow Yeh will remain in hospital over the coming days and must receive the green light from medical staff before being able to fly back to Brisbane.
Broncos skipper Sam Thaiday, who along with Justin Hodges comforted Yow Yeh while the young winger received on-field treatment, said it was difficult to see his teammate go through so much pain.
“He’s laying there with his bone sticking outside of his boot,” Thaiday said.
“He was in a lot of pain there.
“Hodgo and I were just trying to encourage him as much as we could.
“The first thing that goes through your head when you get injured is your footy, and then your career and season.
“He was asking questions along the lines of those things.
“We were just reassuring him and making sure that he knew that we were there for him and supporting him.”
Yow Yeh enjoyed a breakout campaign last year, making his State of Origin debut for Queensland and notching three Tests for Australia.
Thaiday was confident Yow Yeh would be able to recapture his best form once he overcame the ankle injury.
“The beauty of it is that he’s still young, he’s still got a lot of time to come back from this and we’re expecting him back,” Thaiday said.
Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin said Dale Copley and Dane Gagai were the frontrunners to replace Yow Yeh for Friday night’s clash with St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium.
The Broncos trailed 12-0 at the time of Yow Yeh’s injury, but piled on 20 unanswered points to run away with their third win of the season in front of 15,599 fans at Perth’s nib Stadium.
Griffin described it as a “special” win, but South Sydney coach Michael Maguire cut a dejected figure after watching his team let another winning position slip through their grasp.
“I feel for the players,” Maguire said.
“They’re the ones out there doing the hard work and they’re training really well.
“We’ve just got to keep persisting with the things that we’ve been practising.
“It will come.”
