Brisbane Broncos head coach Michael Maguire has confirmed Xavier Willison has broken his arm.
The prop was taken from the field during Friday night’s heavy win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs holding his arm, and it has been revealed he suffered a break.
While scans will be needed to confirm the full extent of the damage, it’s likely he will miss at least four to six weeks.
The young prop, who has been an important part of the Red Hill-based outfit’s rotation this year, could still return for the NRL finals series which the Broncos are almost guaranteed to be part of after their mauling of South Sydney at home on Friday evening.
“Unfortunately, we lose X for a period of time. He has definitely broken his arm so it’s probably going to be a six-weeker,” Maguire said during his post-match press conference on Friday evening.
Willison started the game against South Sydney thanks to the late withdrawal of Payne Haas, who was hospitalised with a skin infection.
Maguire revealed that he was in hospital on a drip on Thursday evening, but still wanted to play against South Sydney on Friday despite only being released from hospital that morning.
“Payne trained and was going to play today, but late yesterday, he had a nick on his leg that formed into an infection,” Maguire said.
“I got a phone call late saying they were a bit concerned about it and sure enough the concern was right, so the doctors sent him into hospital and got him on a drip last night.
“He came out today and was keen to play, but it just wasn’t right, so we sat him out.
“He’ll be fine [for next week].”
In what was an important two competition points for the Broncos against the injury-decimated South Sydney outfit, they managed to reverse a worrying loss to the Parramatta Eels the week before.
Brisbane, who are still a chance at making the top four, now face a tricky run home with the Melbourne Storm twice, as well as the Dolphins, Newcastle Knights and North Queensland Cowboys on their radar.
