Kriss Brining has undergone surgery on a neck bulge.
The Salford hooker is due to check in with the Red Devils this week after returning home late last week following the procedure.
Brining has yet to feature this year, with the same injury keeping him on the sidelines all season.
Initially, the club had hoped he would be able to recover without the need of an operation, however, the 24-year-old decided to go under the knife to give him a definitive return date.
“He’s back at home and hopefully we’ll see him on Monday,” Salford head coach Ian Watson confirmed.
“The good thing is he’s had it done and he’s 12 weeks away pretty much from now.
“I think it’s settled him down because he didn’t know what was going on either. He was like everybody else, guessing at a date he’ll come back and when it will recover. You don’t know if that will be a day, six months, a year, nobody knew.
“It wasn’t really getting any better. He saw the specialist again and he said he could leave it again and see how it goes but he’d have to leave it another 12 to 16 weeks and you could still be back needing surgery anyway. He made the decision himself in the end.”
Brining’s absence has been felt throughout the season, with the Red Devils operating with one of the smallest squads in Super League.
It has forced Ian Watson to be pragmatic when selecting his side, which has resulted in certain players missing games when they may have otherwise been risked.
“Because we’re so small we’re having to be careful,” he said.
“Last year we went gung-ho in every game but every game we went all out as we wanted to win every game. This year we’re finding we’re having to look after players so if they get a knock and are doubtful they don’t play as we just can’t afford for them to miss an extended period of time with the position we’re in. We’ve had to be smart with a few guys.”
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