Warrington Wolves captain Stefan Ratchford has made a horror admission after suffering a facial injury earlier this season.
He was hit by the elbow of James Bell in a win over St Helens in July, and had to leave the field – before surgery, bars and braces were needed for the nasty collision.
He hasn’t played since – and also misses the first two games of this season, as well as the entirety of May’s action.
With almost 400 games in his Super League career, he is a veteran by anyone’s standards, and a significant play-off can often end the career of someone at his age, but he seems desperate to make sure that isn’t at all the case.
Warrington Wolves captain Stefan Ratchford makes horror admission after facial injury
Credit: Imago Images
Ratchford revealed to BBC Radio Merseyside: “The CT scan showed I had 10 fractures.
“The doctors and surgeons were really surprised at the amount of damage from the incident. James messaged me the next day to apologise but I said there was no need, as it was an accident.
“These things happen, it’s a rough-and-tumble sport.”
As much as he plays it down, he went on to describe the impact he had on his life – which, he revealed, was significant.
He said: “I didn’t have a meal for four and a half weeks, it was just yoghurts, smoothies, drinks, soup. I had bars and braces on my teeth to realign my jaw.
“It’s the worst I’ve had just because of the effect on daily tasks – getting up in the morning, brushing your teeth, having a meal. I couldn’t do any of that.”
He is, however, desperate for a return to the field, with just a few games left of the season.
He concluded: “One of my first questions when I came round after surgery was how long I couldn’t play for.
“It’s what we do, it’s our passion. If it was up to me I would have been available to play this week.”
