Learoyd-Lahrs has had surgery to reattach the ligament that tore from underneath his foot in Canberra's round eight win over Melbourne Storm, and is aiming to be back as early as round 16 against the Rabbitohs.

While much has been made about the wretched injury run of Raiders skipper Terry Campese, Learoyd-Lahrs has been almost as unlucky.

Campese and Learoyd-Lahrs made their NRL debuts on the same weekend, in March 2004, and Learoyd-Lahrs has played 119 games in the decade that followed - just 10 more than Campese.

Initially ''dejected'' by his latest injury setback, Learoyd-Lahrs said he had been buoyed by Campese's solid return after two knee reconstructions and also by his own return to form.

''There's blokes who've had to deal with more than me and they've come out the other side,'' he said.

''Campo's living breathing proof of that, he's had a torrid run, but he's persevered, he hasn't dropped his bundle and now he's back playing some good footy. This is obviously a hurdle, but it's only a small one.''

Learoyd-Lahrs admitted his form had dropped over the past two seasons, especially last year.

It led to speculation the Raiders were looking to offload the former NSW Origin and Australian representative prop, who remains on contract with Canberra until the end of next year.

Learoyd-Lahrs was aware of the rumours and said he ''tried too hard'' to fix his game, ''over-complicating things''.

He felt things were now beginning to click, rating his start to this season as good as 2010 when he made his mark on representative footy.

''You can go down a lot of paths looking for answers, but I probably over-complicated things a touch,'' he said of last year's form. ''For me it was about taking pride in my performance and coming off the field knowing I'd played to my strengths, not trying to replicate someone else.

''You look at some of the other forwards in the game that seem to be going well, they all seem to have a bit of footwork and ball skills. That's not my strength unfortunately, and it doesn't seem to work for me.

''Everyone's got their own strengths … it might look a bit primitive at times, coming from a long way back and running hard, but it works for me and that's the style I'm comfortable with.

''I don't think I was doing anything better at the start of 2010 than I was doing this year … in terms of my start to the season, it's probably one of the best I've had in a long time. I was close to playing the type of footy I played a couple of years ago and I was getting confidence from that. There's no reason why I can't pick up where I left off.''

While the club has posted his rehabilitation status as indefinite, doctors have told the 28-year-old his recovery is likely to take eight weeks.

''After I copped that injury, I felt pretty dejected for a while but the fact I should make it back for the last nine or 10 games of the season, there's still a bit of light at the end of the tunnel,'' he said.