A New York miracle: Can Brumbies expect Alaalatoa to follow in Rodgers' footsteps?

The prop suffered the injury in July and there were initial fears he could miss up to 12 months, ruling him out of the entire 2024 Super Rugby season.

The Brumbies have taken a cautious approach to ensure Alaalatoa is fully fit before he returns to the field and have not rushed his progression over the past few months.

Athletes have experienced highly varied return timelines, with Quade Cooper requiring eight months, while Taniela Tupou took nine months to be back on the field.

The captain is unlikely to be fit for round one on February 23, but the Brumbies are hopeful it won't be long before he returns. An April return would mark nine months post injury.

"It's on track and there have been no setbacks yet," ACT coach Stephen Larkham said. "We're always aware things can change day to day and week to week. He's looking at returning around the start of the season. We don't think he'll be there for the first round but he won't be that far off.

"Allan's gaining confidence every week he puts in through this training block. His voice around the place is very good. While he's not training with the team, he's in and around most sessions, adding his voice for the younger players coming through to help with their development."

The Brumbies' cautious approach is in contrast to Rodgers' mindset over the past few months.

The New York Jets quarterback ruptured his Achilles just four minutes into the NFL season, the injury a disastrous start to his time with the franchise.

Rather than begin planning for 2024, Rodgers immediately turned his focus to proving people wrong and took an accelerated approach to rehab.

The 39-year-old returned to training in late November, just 2.5 months post-injury, however recently conceded defeat in his attempt to play this season.

Such a comeback would have been unprecedented following Achilles surgery.

Monash University Associate Professor Peter Malliaras is a leader in Achilles injury research and said a Rodgers comeback was not worth the risk.

"To get back in six months is pretty much the best-case scenario," Mallarias said. "Rodgers was looking at 16 weeks, that would be very surprising if he was able to do that.

"I think they've dodged a bullet the team isn't doing so well and he hasn't got pressure to come back."

The different approaches taken by the Brumbies and Jets have provided an insight into the conjecture among medical experts regarding a return to elite sport following serious Achilles injuries.

Malliaras said there has been a trend towards outcome-based progression rather than hitting time-based markers but acknowledged more needs to be done to outline clear targets in the return to play process.

"From my personal view, there are limitations in how we do rehab at the moment," he said. "The key one is not having set criteria, agreed upon criteria to guide our rehab and recovery.

"If Rodgers was having a certain amount of tendon recovery and strength and he could measurably demonstrate this by doing things like throwing, you could progress his return. But if he's doing that when the tendon is not ready for it, you're going to get problems like overlengthening.

"That causes major issues for the muscle. The muscle and tendon are finely tuned, when you disrupt that, the muscle doesn't work well and you lose strength. It's why a lot of people can't go back to sport."

While Rodgers' program is unconventional, it has drawn the interest of the world's leading medical experts.

Given he attempted to slash months off the typical recovery for elite athletes, there is plenty of speculation and intrigue into how he approached his rehab.

"They might have cracked the right rehab response by doing some things that led to tendon adaptation," Malliaras said. "Hopefully they're measuring that and get to the point they're confident he can return.

"I hope that's the case because we can all learn from it. But if they're just guessing like everyone else has done in the past, it's a risky strategy."

For now, Malliaras backed the Brumbies' approach and said a conservative rehab program is vital for a player like Alaalatoa.

A 29-year-old prop weighing 125 kilograms, the skipper must be meticulous to return to the same level he possessed prior to the injury.

Malliaras has observed the Brumbies medical team in the past and is confident they are on the right track.

"Historically they've had really good rehab processes," Malliaras said. "[Alaalatoa] is 125kg, he's going to be a challenge to rehab given his body shape.

"Aaron Rodgers is quite lean and only 100kg, that makes a big difference. It's going to be a challenge [for the Brumbies] to get that tendon taking 20x [Alaalatoa's] body weight, it needs to be very strong."