Young started in nine games for the Jets last season before being kicked in the nose by Gold Coast striker Shane Smeltz.

Complications arose from the surgery with doctors believing the shot stopper was close to death.

The 30-year-old had surgery as recently as two weeks ago and faces another operation in July, leaving Ben Kennedy as the Jets' only keeper.

"The earliest Neil will probably be back is the end of September, October," Culina told the Newcastle Herald yesterday.

"He has lost a lot of weight and is still very weak ... he's a fair way off."

The Newcastle boss is interested in scouring the market to create competition for Kennedy's spot.

He added: "We're looking around.

"We've obviously got Ben and a couple of young boys but we need to make sure we have cover and competition for Ben.

"We're addressing that and now that we know Neil is going to be out for a little while, we'll hopefully make some inroads."