CHRIS THORMAN is on the verge of a Giants' return - with the injury to Paul March expected to force the issue.
While former Wakefield man March was today undergoing an exploratory operation to assess the damage to his knee suffered during Sunday's 42-34 home triumph over Catalans Dragons, Giants skipper Thorman was being put through his paces on the training ground.
Thorman is known to be close to a return after six weeks on the sidelines with a broken thumb.
Giants chief Jon Sharp's initial thoughts may have been to give him a further week before throwing him back into the Super League fray.
But with fellow half-back March already ruled out for Sunday's trip to Castleford (3.30), Thorman could be about to get the call.
"Chris is going to be tested to the full this week and, hopefully, he'll suffer no ill-effects," said Sharp.
"Until then, a final decision can't be made over his availability, but he's certainly looking close.
"And, with the unfortunate injury to Paul, the timing of that return looks as if it couldn't have been better.
"We were all gutted to see Paul stretchered off, particularly as he had been playing so well.
"We're now just keeping our fingers crossed that the damage is not too severe and his time on the sidelines will be relative short.
"The major problem when he picked up the injury was that his knee locked and the doctor had to unlock it. All we still know at this stage is that there was no break."
