BRETT Stewart has been warned he is facing a lifetime of pain and might not be the same player he was after scans revealed yesterday he had sustained a similar knee injury to last season and would be sidelined for five months.

The Manly fullback has told his teammates his career is far from over but bookmakers are not convinced about the Sea Eagles' premiership hopes after they drifted in betting from $13 to $21 following the news.

Stewart, who had two surgeries to his right knee in 2007 and 2009, will have an operation next week to repair cartilage damage in his left knee, which he sustained making a trysaving tackle on Wests Tigers winger Lote Tuqiri on Monday night.

The latest setback could not have come at a worse time for Stewart, given he will appear in court again on Monday to answer a sexual assault charge from last year.

Having banned and dumped him last year from its advertising campaign for breaching the game's code of conduct, the NRL has now offered the devastated former NSW fullback counselling.

Timmins, a former utility for St George Illawarra, retired at age 30 after a history of problems with both knees while Bowen, the livewire fullback for North Queensland, is still convalescing after undergoing a radical grafting procedure last season.

"I struggle, I haven't run since I retired and I'll have knee replacements when I'm older," Timmins said. "They're all right for general use at the moment, I still surf and stuff, but I just don't run.

"The doctor said I was running on time bombs."

"I'd be lying if I said they (my knees) were good (when I came back), they weren't like they were before I had all the injuries.

"They were never the same and I used to struggle the last couple of years - training wise I was always in pain, I was never free."

Manly coach Des Hasler said Stewart was determined to return before the end of the season and rejected the notion his trademark speed could be affected.

"If anything, his knee will be stronger," Hasler said. "Obviously, any side would love to have Brett Stewart and it's going to have an impact on us.

"While it's disappointing he's injured, the positive is he will get back on the field this year where he belongs with his teammates."

Regardless of whether the injuries were similar, Timmins said Stewart's greatest challenge would be the lengthy rehabilitation he faced.

"It's a tough time especially doing your other knee but it will make him mentally tougher," Timmins said.

"It got me down, you'd have good days and bad days, but you've just got to push through it, and it won't be easy for him. The main thing I struggled coming back with was the amount of training."

Timmins said that although he was not the same player when he returned from injury, he still played representative football.

And despite the fact his knee problems ended his career early and have now caught up with him, he said he had no regrets.

"It was all worth it, I'd do it again. I still wish I was doing it now. I look at blokes still playing that are my age and I get a bit jealous," he said. "I was just unlucky to have bad knees towards the end of my career."

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