Star Melbourne Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen has revealed he won't rush his way back into the NRL as he recovers from a shattered knee.
Papenhuyzen suffered the season-ending injury against the Canberra Raiders during a game at the back end of the NRL season, and has been rehabbing the injury ever since.
He jetted off to the United States of America last week to seek further treatment and rehabilitation on the knee where he is working with renowned physio Bill Knowles.
Knowles worked with Latrell Mitchell last year after the South Sydney star suffered a hamstring injury, and will work with the troublesome hamstrings of Tom Trbojevic in the coming weeks after Manly confirmed he would fly to the USA on Saturday.
Papenhuyzen is seemingly becoming more and more unlikely to be available for Round 1 by the day however, with the Storm fullback confirming to SEN Radio that he won't rush back before he has had a substantial block of training.
"I had a disrupted pre-season last year injuring a few ligaments in my ankle after the new year then I came back and got injured and then I came back and got injured again so what you realise is you need a good training block โ you don't just come back when you're ready to come back, you come back when you're ready to perform," Papenhuyzen said.
"I've said all along I haven't really thought about a date to come back.
"I know I'll come back but I want to come back when I'm right and that's when the conversation started - he said that's a good way to think of it because you might get cleared by your medics but have you done the training.
"You don't want to go into a season having not done a pre-season, you have to think about those sorts of things as well.
"I really don't have a date in mind, it's more getting it back to a level where I feel like I can perform well again, and once we are there we'll start looking at dates."
Papenhuyzen's comments come as the Storm seek their revenge after crashing out of the finals in Week 1 against the Raiders last year, with all of Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes having now committed long-term to the club after struggling with injury at various points last year.
The star fullback said he has learnt a lot during his time in the USA.
"I tried to come in with not too many expectations but I've already learned so much. Every day it is something new and we have one of our physios [Liam Robinson] over here as well taking lots of notes every day so this will help not only me but the whole club," he said.
Papenhuyzen is due to return to Australia in the coming week where he will resume training with the Storm.
