Plenty of past stories writing about his crippled knee. Parra sure fixed it up good
Parramatta Eels' Anthony Watmough had to learn to run again after injury complications
Former Test forward Anthony Watmough told Parramatta officials just weeks ago that he was going to retire after muscle fatigue from ignoring a serious knee injury for five years left him a virtual cripple.
Watmough, whose first season with the Eels ended prematurely when he suffered a shoulder injury in the round 19 match against North Queensland, has had to learn to run again after also undergoing surgery to repair a torn medial ligament in his left knee.
After having the ligament re-attached, Watmough found the rehabilitation from the operation so difficult he thought his career was over.
"I thought I was going to retire, I thought I was gone," Watmough revealed on Tuesday at a launch for next season's NRL Nines.
"I spoke to the physio because the first time I tried to run, I couldn't. My legs were just on fire. I just said to him 'I'm done. I can't run, I can't walk, I can't even hop'. I was standing there with my left leg and it was just done. I thought that's life, I've had a great run, I've had a great go."
However, Watmough is now looking forward to his 14th season in the NRL after Parramatta physiotherapist Josh Rigg told him the pain wasn't caused by the medial ligament tear but muscle fatigue from continuing to play with the injury.
"I learnt to favour it too much, so the muscles, the hamstring, just died... the calf didn't work and I didn't realise how bad it was because over the years it just kept declining, declining," Watmough said.
"The physio said 'you've had no medial for so long that there's nothing there'. As soon as they re-attached it I could feel muscles that I hadn't felt in years.
"But then they just started chucking fits and locked one day, sort of spasmed, when I was at training. That's when they felt like they were on fire and I said 'I'm done'".
Watmough, who has played 303 NRL matches for Manly and Parramatta, said Rigg had had to teach him him how to run again and he has gradually been increasing the distances.
"The first day he wanted me to run a straight line for five metres and I couldn't do that," Watmough said.
"Then I came back the next week and ran for two minutes [and] the next week for five minutes. Every day we did programs, set up fitness blocks with cycling and other stuff.
"The other day was 7.5 kilometres on my legs and then to be able to turn up the next day and run. That was a big test."
Having done that, Watmough now hopes to next week be given the green light to resume ballwork with teammates for the first time in six months.
"I was told I've been playing on one leg for five years," Watmough said. "To do that in one of the toughest sports in the world, I didn't realise how much it was taking away from my game but obviously it was. My performances haven't been what they should have been.
"It wasn't the year I wanted at Parra. I wanted to have a bit more of an impact than I did but it was probably a blessing that I went to Parra as they finally found out what my injury was and fixed it.
"It wasn't the greatest debut at a club but we're working hard off the field and I feel we've grown as a unit. It's been pretty surreal the last five weeks, learning how to run again."
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...ter-injury-complications-20151208-glij4s.html
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