Canterbury Bulldogs General Manager Phil Gould has clarified the mysterious absence of rising front-rower Samuel Hughes, revealing that the 24-year-old has been recovering from syndesmosis surgery after what initially appeared to be a minor ankle injury.
Hughes was a strong chance to line up in Round 1 against the Dragons after an impressive pre-season but was a late scratching following a rolled ankle in the second trial match.
Gould admitted that early signs were promising and that Hughes even trained leading into the season opener before the extent of the injury became clear.
โSam Hughes was an interesting one. He rolled his ankle a little bit in the second trial of the year and was considered a chance of playing Round 1,โ Gould explained on his Six Tackles With Gus podcast.
โIn fact, he trained in the week leading up to Round 1 and was ruled out at training. He was still hobbling a little bit, but figuring that another week would be fine.โ
That optimism quickly faded after further scans revealed a syndesmosis injury serious enough to require surgery.
โWhen they went and X-rayed it again, we don't know what he's done to it, but ended up that he needed surgery for a syndesmosis injury,โ Gould went on.
โHe's had a couple of setbacks during the recovery for that, which is not uncommon.โ
The Bulldogs have now set their sights on a Round 12 return, with Hughes still unable to resume full training.
His absence has been compounded by a growing list of unavailable middle forwards, including Sitili Tupouniua and Josh Curran, both out through suspension.
โThey thought it would be one or two weeks, but now think he's [Hughes] is going to be Round 12,โ Gould added.
โHe's not ready to play at the moment, but he'd be very handy given that there's half a dozen middles missing for the Bulldogs.โ
Hughes had emerged as one of Canterbury's biggest improvers early in 2024, averaging 83 run metres and 21 tackles per game.
