Lima and White out of World Cup
Posted
Melbourne Storm props Brett White and Jeff Lima have been forced to withdraw from their respective World Cup squads due to post-season surgery needs.
White had been selected for Ireland while Lima was to line up for New Zealand.
Storm high performance unit manager Mary Toomey says Lima's knee problem is worse than first thought.
"Lima had an arthroscope on his troublesome knee on Tuesday to clean out the joint he injured leading into the finals series," she said in a statement.
"Unfortunately this showed more significant damage than had been indicated on his MRI scan and he will have further surgery in approximately 10 days to repair this."
The news was no better for White, who will also have surgery in the next few days.
"Brett has been troubled by persistent inflammation and soreness affecting the joints at the base of both big toes over the last few weeks," Toomey said.
"He managed to get through games with medical and physio help, but now needs surgery to correct this problem. We expect him to take about eight weeks to recover."
Lima is expected to be back in full training by mid-February, while White is expected back in January.
