Jack Walker has done it tough with injuries in recent years, with the same issue coming back to haunt the Leeds Rhinos fullback.
Starring in the fullback spot for Leeds in the 2017 Grand Final, Walker was sidelined for most of the 2020 Super League season with a foot injury.
That same injury ruled out Walker for all of the 2021 campaign and the 22-year-old has revealed on the Super League website that he turned away from rugby league during that period out.
“I was gutted to miss the season, but it just gave me an opportunity to work on my body. I’ve never had a preseason – every preseason over the past five years I’ve had an operation,” Walker said.
“I’ve never really had a preseason where I can work on my body and be Super League ready, because I went into it at such a young age.
“When I got the news that I was going to miss another season [in 2021], I took a week off just to get my head around it, reboot and go again. The way I coped with it was to just take myself away from rugby and focus on other things.
“Throughout last season I didn’t pay attention to much rugby – I watched it on tele a bit, but didn’t go to watch any games, didn’t go and watch training, didn’t want to be a part of it and just didn’t want to think about rugby.
“I thought of it as another year to put some size on and work on myself really. It’s only now I’ve started to get myself back into the skills side of things.
“There wasn’t that many days where I was demotivated, I’ve been pretty good throughout the whole of it, always enjoying going step by step and getting better.”
After almost two years without stepping foot on a rugby league field, Walker will have to take a little longer after succumbing to a torn hamstring in training.
“I tore my hamstring about three weeks ago. My bodies not used to the preseason load since I’ve been out for two years. I should be back within two to three weeks, but it does mean I miss the Boxing Day game [against Wakefield Trinity].
“It could have been a lot worse; I could have missed the start of the season so it’s not too bad. I’ve just got a couple more things to do and then I’ll be back up and running.”
