Packer hasn’t played since the Dragons round 21 loss to Newcastle after picking up the injury at training.

He wasn’t named for this weekend’s clash against Canterbury and the Dragons may need to go deep into the finals to ensure the Wests Tigers-bound prop pulls on the red v again. 

“The progress of his knee has been a bit slow so we sent him for a repeat MRI,” club head of performance Nathan Pickworth said.

“It showed similar damage to the first MRI. The injury that’s still there in his knee is one that’s pretty rare, it doesn’t happen too often in isolation.

“We think it’s probably going to be the six or seven week mark post-injury which means we’ve still got a little bit of healing to go.

“He’s going to get nice and strong in the gym the next couple of weeks before we really ramp up his running.”