Blow for Broncos as Carrigan ruled out for season
THE Broncos have suffered a big blow ahead of Friday’s Magic Round clash against Manly after scans revealed stand-in captain Patrick Carrigan will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
The 23-year-old suffered a ruptured ACL during Brisbane’s onepoint loss to the Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday night, ruling him out for the rest of the year.
Brisbane’s workhorse is expected to go under the knife in the coming days to repair the damage in his knee.
“Unfortunately our worst fears were confirmed by the scan in that Pat has a ruptured ACL,” Broncos head of performance Andrew Croll said.
“Pat will see a surgeon this week to confirm the next course of action which will be surgery.
“He will miss the remainder of the 2021 season and the club is providing Pat with all the support he needs.”
The loss of Carrigan opens the door for utility John Asiata to claim the No.13 jersey for the remainder of the year.
Brisbane teammate Rhys Kennedy said it was big shoes to fill to replace a player like Carrigan.
“He gets through a lot of work on the field,” Kennedy said. “He’s a workhorse. It gives the guys in reserve grade an opportunity to step up and a few of us on the bench might have to step up and play some more minutes to take some of the workload.
“We lost Lexi (Alex Glenn) and now we’ve lost another captain.
“It’s big shoes to fill for Patty but we have to keep moving forward and get back on the horse.”