COMING BACK: Brothers captain Sam Hannant. Bev Lacey BROTHERS captain Sam Hannant was robbed by injury of a chance to lead his club to a long-awaited TRL premiership in last year's grand final and will now miss out on the opening rounds of their title defence.
Hannant cruelly suffered a knee injury in the finals series last year and the injury cost him a place in the victorious Brothers grand final team.
He was out on the field running water but it wasn't the same.
It turned out that the inspirational back-rower ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and tore meniscus cartilage.
He underwent ligament augmentation and reconstruction system surgery in October to repair the damage, but while the fledgling LARS surgery has a much shorter recovery time than a traditional knee reconstruction, Hannant is still a few weeks away from making a return.
This will see Brothers start their title defence against Warwick on Sunday at Glenholme Park minus their captain.
Hannant is targeting a comeback just after the Easter break, with the Leprechauns' round four home game against Oakey on April 7 a possible return date.
"I won't play round one," Hannant said. "I've been doing a fair bit of rehab work with Troy Morgan at Willows Gym.
"I'm probably looking at coming back the week after Easter."
The 28-year-old has been doing everything he can to speed up his recovery.
"I'm not getting any younger and you've got to make the most out of footy," he said.
"I can't say it's been easy. Since I had it done I've pretty much been down the gym every day.
"It's been pretty hard work and hopefully it all comes together."
The Hutchinson Builders TRL Premiership will kick-off on Saturday when Valleys host Dalby at Herb Steinohrt Oval before the other four games are played on Sunday.
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