IT is too early to speculate on whether injured Newcastle Knights forward Alex McKinnon will walk again or not.
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So said Taree rugby league great Danny Buderus, who was back home this week to attend the Buderus Sevens, a non-competitive schoolboy rugby league carnival at Taree Recreation Centre.
The retired Newcastle, Australian and NSW State of Origin hooker was in Melbourne in his new capacity as trainer with the Knights when McKinnon broke his neck. There have since been city media reports indicating that McKinnon would be left a quadriplegic or a paraplegic.
"That's been wrongly reported,'' Buderus said.
"This is the first stage of his recovery. It's too early to say what's going to happen just yet.
"It will be taken stage by stage.''
Buderus said McKinnon received the best help available from the moment he was injured.
"The stadium close to one of the best hospitals in Australia,'' he pointed out.
"There were a lot of boxes ticked straight away.''
However, Buderus, who is still involved in a coaching capacity with the Knights as well as his training and corporate duties, admits it has been a 'tough time' for the club.
"It was an emotional game (against Cronulla) last Sunday,'' he said.
"It was a day for the community to come together and let some emotions out that needed to be let out. And we were lucky enough to win the game of footy as well.''