Captain Jobe Watson has successfully undergone surgery to repair a ruptured rectus femoris tendon and is expected to make a full recovery.
Watson went under the knife on Tuesday afternoon after tearing the tendon during Saturday night's win over Greater Western Sydney.
Initially the injury was thought to be a simple quad strain, however scans yesterday revealed Watson had ruptured his rectus femoris tendon, a very rare injury.
“It’s a very rare injury. We don’t really know of anyone that has had it (a similar injury),” Club doctor Bruce Reid said.
“It’s very much a surprise the way it happened because that’s the sort of thing that often as you kick, you get pushed forward,” he said.
“It was inflexion, then he had to do a powerful kick, but we would not expect that to tear a tendon. Because if that was the case, we would expect it to be a very common injury.”
As rare as Watson’s injury is, Reid said the surgery was rather straightforward.
“The surgery itself is not technically difficult,” Reid said.
“He’ll have a quiet couple of weeks. Then at about 2-3 weeks he will be right to turn his legs over on the bike.
“We will have a good look at it clinically, maybe a scan at about six weeks, then he starts jogging at about six weeks.”
NBA basketballer, Carl Landry sustained a similar injury as Watson’s ruptured rectus femoris tendon, playing for the Sacramento Kings in October 2013.
He too went under the knife after tearing his left hip flexor in a pre-season training camp.
Landry went on to make a successful comeback within three months, playing out 18-games for the Sacramento Kings in the 2013/2014 season, before succumbing to a separate knee injury that saw his season end prematurely.
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