Kav is facing surgery on hip

Halifax forward Ben Kavanagh is facing the prospect of surgery and an extended lay off following scans on his dislocated hip.

Kavanagh, who had been earmarked for a back row spot in 2020 by coach Simon Grix, was stretchered off in the first half of Fax’s pre-season win over Hull FC three weeks ago.

The former Hull KR, Widnes and Wigan player, who joined his hometown club last winter, had the hip reset in hospital under general anaesthetic after the game and has since had both MRI and CT scans as medics try to ascertain the full extent of the damage.

Kavanagh is due to see a consultant, possibly as soon as this week, but according to Grix it seems almost inevitable he will now have to go under the knife.

“I’m no doctor, but having read the report I think that an operation is more than likely,” said Grix, who had initially hoped the final prognosis would be closer to the 12 week recovery of Halifax-born St George-Illawarra half back Gareth Widdop in 2013 .

“There’s some damage to the labrum, which is the cartilage that sits inside the joint, and some other stuff too. There’s an X-ray, an MRI, a CT, so there’s a lot of information there to interpret.

“The next step is to see the specialist, which we’re pushing to do in the next few days, and they’ll come up with a plan for what we do next. Ben needs something to shoot for now.

“I know from having been in that kind of position during my career that once you’ve got that target, you just crack on with what you need to do.