LEEDS RHINOS youngster George Brown will be sidelined for a significant portion of the season with his knee injury.
Brown had surgery earlier this week after suffering meniscus damage in Leeds’ Challenge Cup fourth-round defeat at Wakefield Trinity last Friday.
That was the 20-year-old halfback’s fourth senior appearance, after making his professional debut in the previous round of the competition against Widnes Vikings.
He also played in their Super League fixtures against Leigh Leopards (a 26-14 defeat) and Castleford Tigers (a 22-4 victory, with Brown scoring a try to add to his double against Widnes).
Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur says he will not rush Brown back into action.
“It could be four or five months. I’m not sure if he’ll play again this year,” said Arthur.
“There’s no rush with it, we want to rehab him properly. He’s young and he’s got a lot of time in front of him so we’ll do the right thing by him.”
Brodie Croft will return to Leeds’ line-up for Sunday’s away clash with Hull FC after sitting out their past two games with a hamstring injury.
And there will also be a debut for Jack Bird, the versatile Australian signed in February, off the bench.
“We’ve had three training sessions this week for the first time since the testimonial game against Bradford, so that’s been handy and helped him get around how we play and what we want him to do,” said Arthur.
“He’s not played for six of seven months so our expectations won’t be too high.”