Canterbury Bulldogs' centre Aaron Schoupp is set to suffer a heavily disrupted preparation ahead of the 2022 NRL season.
The young centre, who had made a spot his own by the time the final rounds rolled out, will need to undergo a full rotator cuff repair in his shoulder.
Canterbury director of football Phil Gould said he underwent shoulder surgery on Friday, however, will now need a full repair.
Aaron Schoupp entered hospital for minor shoulder surgery yesterday. Post operation, surgeon revealed the rotator cuff needed full repair. Must be a tough kid. Five months return to play is the suggested recovery time. Hopefully ready for Round one 2022.
— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) September 10, 2021
Gould hinted that the recovery time could be up to five months for Schoupp, who may have needed a strong pre-season to impress coach Trent Barrett.
Despite holding down a spot for the second half of the season in the struggling outfit, the Bulldogs are bringing six high-profile recruits to the club next year in Matt Dufty, Brent Naden, Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton, Tevita Pangai Junior and Paul Vaughan.
While Will Hopoate and Nick Meaney are exiting the club, Barrett previously worked with Naden in his assistant role at Penrith and is known to be a big fan of the outside back.
It could see Schoupp forced to fight his way back into first grade, with a five-month recovery setting his return date in February, costing him around three months of training.
The 20-year-old made 13 appearances this season, his first in the top grade. Making his debut in Round 11 against the Titans, he would only go on to miss a single game over the second half of the season, starting at centre in every game for the Bulldogs.
Centre
Tries
Line Breaks
All Run Metres
His last 12 appearances saw him play all 80 minutes for the Bulldogs on each occasion as he wound up with three tries and 33 tackle busts in the struggling outfit.
The Wollongong-born youngster and former Australian and New South Wales under-15 and under-16 centre was with the Illawarra Steelers junior development system where he won an SG Ball grand final before switching to the Bulldogs at the end of 2019 and will be on contract at the club until the end of 2022.
