St Helens Women’s star reveals extent of horror injury

St Helens Faye Gaskin has spoken honestly about the extent of her horror knee injury which kept her away from the sport for two years, with her miraculous full circle moment being completed when she scored a drop goal against York Valkyrie to send Saints to a Wembley matchup against Leeds Rhinos.

Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live Rugby League podcast, the St Helens player said: “My foot like landed in the ground, and then my whole body weight smashed into my knee and fractured my knee and my tibia and was told it was career ending.”

She added: “They basically pinned my tibia and my knee together so it can still move but my leg doesn’t fully straighten or fully bend so the risk of coming back to rugby where you need that flexion and extension, they were like ‘it’s too much for you to do’. I was like ‘no I’m definitely going to go back and play’ and then two years later this was the season I finally made an appearance back wearing that shirt.”

She also explained that she is playing on despite the need for a knee replacement. “It’s been a tough two years and there were times when I thought ‘do I walk away now and hang my boots up’, but I think when you’ve played rugby your whole life you sort of lost your identity and I was like ‘I want to end on my terms and nobody else’s terms’.

“I’m not sure how long I’ll play for,” she said. “I’m waiting for a knee replacement so I don’t know if it’ll be the end of this year I’ll finish or I just try and stay as fit as I can and keep going for another 12 months.”

Gaskin scored the all important drop goal that saw her side overcome York Valkyrie 17-16 on Saturday. The Saints now move on to face Leeds Rhinos in a repeat of last years Women’s Challenge Cup Final, which St Helens won 18-8. It is also the first Women’s Challenge Cup Final to take place at Wembley Stadium.

On the opportunity to play at Wembley, Gaskin said: “Since it got announced last year, so many girls stayed at the clubs they were at and didn’t move to different clubs because they wanted to go to Wembley with that group of players.”

She added: “For us, when we met as a squad and had a new coach come in with Matty Smith he was like ‘what is our goal’ and the whole squad mentioned Wembley; and why wouldn’t you it’s an unbelievable stadium with an outstanding atmosphere.”