Broncos star Anthony Milford has suffered a fractured hand following an incident at training, with the Brisbane five-eighth now in doubt to feature in Kevin Walters' Round 1 squad.
It is understood that Milford initially damaged a metacarpal in his hand last week, with the injury becoming more severe in the last few days.
The extent of the setback could place Milford on the sidelines for close to six weeks, meaning the 26-year-old will be in a race against the clock to face the Eels at Suncorp Stadium on March 12.
Speaking to NRL.com, Brisbane's head of performance Andrew Croll revealed Milford will undergo surgery on his hand.
"Anthony felt pain in his hand during a drill today and we sent him for scans," he said.
"He has been reviewed by a surgeon and a hand therapist and at this stage the best course of action is surgery to repair the fracture.
"He will undergo surgery later this week, with a recovery time of 4-6 weeks."
Tom Dearden, Brodie Croft and Corey Paix will be in contention to collectively fill the void left by Milford, with Walters set to experiment in his opening year at Red Hill.
