Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has revealed how concussion rocked his star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, saying he was "doughy" for weeks and has only recently improved markedly.
The 23-year-old was stretchered from the field after a sickening hit during the Dragons game in round 10 almost a month ago and Bellamy said he was a shadow of himself for weeks.
"(Papenhuyzen) was obviously very doughy for three or four weeks after," Bellamy said following the Storm's 42-16 win over the Warriors on Sunday.
"He's started back into training but is still not training with the team. He is doing his own training, but there's been a marked improvement in the last week to his demeanour.
"He was down and it was obviously affecting him but he seems to have turned a corner."
He said that Papenhuyzen's headaches resumed when he tried to train initially, forcing him to dial things back.
But the Clive Churchill Medallist was hopeful of making a comeback in three weeks time, in the round 16 match on July 1 against the Sydney Roosters.
"I'm not quite sure when he's going to be back to play ... I think he's looking at that Roosters game but it will be up to how he's feeling and what the specialists say," Bellamy said.
"The last week or 10 days has been really promising in that things are starting to move on a little bit."
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