THE question mark surrounding Roar midfielder Andrew Packer’s fitness today received some clarity with the results of his MRI revealing a significant tear in his right hamstring.

Packer, who sustained the injury in the Roar’s July 1st anti-racism clash with Supersport United just over a week ago, is now expected to be out for up to six weeks with Queensland Roar Physiotherapist Tony Ganter saying it was a case of pay now, save later.

“The MRI shows that Andrew has a significant tear in his right hamstring so he’s looking at somewhere around the five to six week mark before he returns” said Ganter.

“It’s almost six-centimetre-long; a typical grade two tear. He already has a cross-training program that we’ve written for him this week. He’ll have to maintain a careful process of healing through the correct and appropriate training stages.

“Once he can work through all those phases we’ll reintroduce him to ball work, but we’re unlikely to see him on the field in July. Unfortunately these injuries don’t come with prior warning signs so with his recovery we need to make sure there are no errors. If we do hurry him through recovery, then we jeopardize his chances of starting in round one of the Hyundai A-League. If we get it right, he should be back for that first round with a game or two under his belt as well.”

Despite the bad news, Packer said he was hopeful of returning as quickly as possible.

“I’ve never really had a muscle injury so I’ve just got to follow the program Tony [Ganter] has set out for me and hopefully I can be back as soon as possible,” said Packer.

“I’ve always been the type of person that recovers quicker than expected so hopefully this is the same thing. The funny thing is I have full strength in my leg and can do pretty much all the physiotherapy tests no drama. I’m not sure why, but when the MRI results came back it was obvious that the tear is quite large so we’re not going to take any chances.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the boys play this Saturday against Sydney; I think we’ve done really well so far. We’re looking really structured and knocking the ball around well; Frank has put together an excellent squad so far and everyone is gelling so we’re looking good.”