Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Senior Penrith players have confirmed co-captain Isaah Yeo suffered a ruptured pec – not a partial tear– and were still trying to comprehend how he was able to get back on the park within four weeks.
Yeo played about 55 minutes against the Wests Tigers on Sunday, which allayed fears he would be a risk heading into the NRL finals, starting with Sunday’s qualifying final against the Roosters.
Coach Ivan Cleary and Yeo, 31, have refused to elaborate on the extent of the lock forward’s injury. When Yeo broke down against the Warriors last month, all the club would confirm was he would not require “immediate surgery”.
Now several Panthers have revealed the full extent of the representative forward’s injury.
Pec surgery would have ended Yeo’s season and any chances of captaining Australia at the World Cup next month.
Hooker Mitch Kenny, who broke his fibula and suffered a serious ankle injury in April, and also returned against the Tigers on Sunday, said seeing Yeo return so soon was a boost for the team.
“It’s probably the most extreme example I can think of, playing without a pec,” Kenny said.
“But he didn’t miss a beat. He’s definitely going to have to get some work done in the off-season.
“But it’s such a lift for the group, having him out there and knowing that he’s ready to put his body on the line that way for us. You can’t help but want to repay the favour.”
Backrower Scott Sorensen said he had never ruptured his pec, and could only imagine the pain Yeo was experiencing.
“It’s mind-blowing, you do scratch your head, and you wonder, ‘how is he doing this?’,” Sorensen said.
“We’re at training, he’s getting around, and doing what he’s doing. You ask him during training, you ask him after the game, ‘how was it?’, ‘how are you feeling?’, and every time, he’s like, ‘I’m good’. And if he’s good, everyone is good.”
Centre Casey McLean added: “He’s come back from an injury that has kept people out for the season.
“I was sitting in the sheds after the game on Sunday looking at him thinking, ‘how did you do that?’.”
“Hearing about what should have happened, how he’s come back, I’m still starstruck.”
Former Roosters fullback Michael Gordon avoided surgery in the back half of the 2017 season, and was able to return in six weeks. Gordon, however, suffered a high-grade partial tear, not a complete rupture, and avoided surgery because he was approaching the end of his career.
Physiotherapist Brien Seeney, who is also known as “NRL Physio” on social media platforms, suspected Yeo had suffered a rupture, but there was no further damage he could do in a game.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of evidence on professional sportspeople returning so quickly from a ruptured pec because it hasn’t been done,” Seeney said on Tuesday.
“There have been studies on military personnel that have shown a 30 per cent loss in strength when moving the arm forward and across the body.
“You can’t re-tear a tendon that is completely torn. It’s not so much a pain issue, it’s a matter of whether Isaah will be falling off tackles because of the strength.
“The only comparable case is the Michael Gordon injury, and even there were mixed reports about whether he ruptured his tendon, or tore it. He was also a fullback and not required to make as many tackles as Isaah will playing in the middle.”
One of the Roosters’ doctors, Ameer Ibrahim, who was responsible for helping Gordon return to play in six weeks – and will be in the opposition dugout at CommBank Stadium on Sunday – told this masthead last month about Yeo: “You can’t needle the pec, and you just have to hope the rehab is good – and that is lasts. It will definitely go again.
“This isn’t something you’d do at the start of the season, you’d only consider it at the end.”
