ST HELENS winger Leah Burke is set for another spell on the sidelines.
The 28-year-old made her playing return at the start of this season after overcoming a second ACL injury in the space of three years. But now after scoring five tries in eight appearances in all competitions, Burke has undergone surgery after picking up a lower leg injury in round five against Featherstone.
Head coach Derek Hardman expects Burke to be out for around eight to ten weeks in total, but with the second phase of the season not kicking off until Thursday, August 6, he is confident she will be back on the field before the end of this year.
“It was something around her achilles area, so it’s quite a bad one for her,” he explained.
“I feel so sorry for Leah, two ACL’s – one in each knee, gets herself back, breaks away against Featherstone and is heading for the try line when it looks like she’s been snipered. There was no one near her and she just went down.
“It’s been a few weeks now, so hopefully she can be back for the latter end of the year, but we do need to be careful with her as well because she has been through so much.
“We’ll nurse her through it and try to get her back this year, but there is no rush, it will all be done in her own time.”