His teammates may think he is "pretty soft" but Brisbane forward Tevita Pangai Junior is expected to make his NRL return from injury a month earlier than expected.
Pangai Jnr, 21, was initially told he faced three months on the sidelines due to finger tendon damage sustained in the Broncos' win over Gold Coast Titans a fortnight ago.
However, the damaging bench forward is only expected to miss up to eight weeks after surgery.
"I didn't think I would miss two months with a finger injury. The boys think I am pretty soft," Pangai Jnr told the Broncos website.
"I will try to get back earlier but eight weeks is the verdict at the moment."
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Pangai Jnr will rest for two weeks before starting his rehabilitation on what his specialist rated one of the worst snapped finger tendon injuries he had seen.
"I broke my finger but broke it through my tendon so I have snapped the tendon as well," Pangai Jnr said.
"The doc said it was one of the worst 'Jersey fingers' (snapped finger tendon injury) he had seen but hopefully I will be back on the park soon."
It is the first major injury drama for Pangai Jnr, who had established himself as a strike forward off the bench for Brisbane and averaged 86m and 11 tackles a game this year.
