Brisbane's season has gone from bad to worse, with news that Broncos captain Matt Lodge has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2020 NRL season.
Lodge has been injury-stricken since round seven, complaining of knee soreness, but it seems last week's defeat to South Sydney saw the issue worsen. After missing training on Tuesday, scans this week showed a fracture which will end his year prematurely.
"I can exclusively reveal Matt Lodge is out for the season," Nine News reporter based in Brisbane, Ben Dobbin, said on Wednesday night.
"He has a hairline fracture of his tibia and he will not play again.
"It's a huge blow as the Broncos already have their backs against the wall, and the challenge much more difficult now with Lodge gone for the year."
https://twitter.com/MyMateDobbo/status/1293467696516853760The club later confirmed the news in a statement released on their website.
"He originally injured his knee during the Round 7 match against the Titans, with the initial prognosis not expected to be serious," the statement read.
"Since that injury, Matt has had multiple scans and a specialist appointment to try to find the cause of continued knee pain, with no definite result.
"Matt was determined to get back on the field and played last weekend against the Rabbitohs but following that game the pain in his knee had not subsided.
"Subsequently a hairline fracture was discovered in his tibia and this will unfortunately require the rest of the season to heal properly."
https://twitter.com/brisbanebroncos/status/1293469174690283521It's been a nightmare season for the Broncos with COVID-19 bubble breaches, off-field scandals, uncertainty over the future of coach Anthony Seibold at the club and persistent poor form seeing them languishing at the bottom of the NRL ladder.
Last night Dobbin said that CCTV of their most-recent controversy - an alleged Saturday visit by a number of players to Everton Park Hotel - reportedly showed the team partaking in "lots of drinking" with "not a lot of food consumed" and there are also reports of pokies being used.
Those reports conflict with the Broncos' defence yesterday that the team have done nothing wrong, with players just having lunch at a private under "more-relaxed Project Apollo Queensland restrictions".
The pub meeting could be a breach of the NRL's biosecurity agreement with Queensland Health. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has already warned the NRL that her tolerance is wearing thin after a string of infringements.
Dobbin said the NRL will soon deal the Broncos with a "huge fine" for that breach, and Brisbane legend and board member Darren Lockyer seemed prepared for the club to cop it on the chin.
"We don't have any excuses, we've just got own it and then deal with the consequences," Lockyer told Nine News.
Ahead of their must-win game against the Canberra Raiders on Saturday, the entire Broncos team including players and coaches gathered at Red Hill last night for a "COVID-regulated" cards, movie and pizza night.
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