Lima out of Cup

Melbourne prop Jeff Lima will miss the World Cup and faces an interrupted pre-season, with his knee injury worse than first thought.

Fresh from carving a starting berth for himself with the Storm in 2008 after being used as a bench weapon in last year's premiership side, the 26-year-old international has been ruled out of New Zealand's campaign.

Troubled by the knee injury he suffered on the eve of the finals, the Kiwi battering ram had to be nursed through September and October, playing through the pain as Melbourne's season ended with Sunday's 40-0 grand final hammering against Manly.

"(Jeff) Lima had an arthroscope on his troublesome knee on Tuesday to clean out the joint he injured leading into the finals series," said Storm high performance unit manager Mary Toomey.

"Unfortunately this showed more significant damage than had been indicated on his MRI scan and he will have further surgery in approximately 10 days to repair this," Toomey added of Lima, who is unlikely to return to the track until February at the earliest.

Lima's fellow Melbourne prop Brett White, the New South Wales front-rower, will also be watching from the sidelines during the World Cup, ruled out by the need for surgery on both feet.

"Brett has been troubled by persistent inflammation and soreness affecting the joints at the base of both big toes over the last few weeks," Toomey added of White, who will be ready to return to training in January.

"He managed to get through games with medical and physio help, but now needs surgery to correct this problem. We expect him to take about eight weeks to recover."