Nikora feared leg injury could cruel finals during ban
Scott Bailey |
Briton Nikora has revealed how a leg injury left him fearing he could miss Cronulla’s finals charge, after being kept off his feet for two weeks while serving a late-season ban.
Nikora has been named to come off the bench again in Friday night’s preliminary final against Melbourne, after losing his starting spot while suspended last month.
The 27-year-old had a less-than-ideal run into the finals, banned from Cronulla’s last three home-and-away matches for a high shot on St George Illawarra’s Corey Allan.
The suspension coincided with a serious corked left thigh, after he suffered blows in successive weeks against North Queensland and the Dragons.
“I thought: ‘It’s a cork right, it’s nothing. A couple of days and I’ll be able to run again’,” Nikora said.
“But I couldn’t bend my leg or nothing. Then it started to harden up.
“They got x-rays and all that stuff, and it still wasn’t getting better for like two weeks. I tried to get the blood sucked out and that, and it was too late for that.”
In all, Nikora was unable to train for more than two weeks, feeling doubly helpless while suspended and not being able to maintain his fitness or help teammates.
“That’s how it sort of felt. I couldn’t play and then I also couldn’t train. It wasn’t good,” Nikora said.
“I was thinking in my head, ‘Will I be back in time?’.
“I was like, ‘I need to stay fit, and to be fit you’ve got to be playing games or something’.
“But then with more movement and all the rehab it eventually sorted itself out.”
The Kiwi Test second-rower has returned in an unfamiliar role, with Billy Burns’ form on the right edge meaning Nikora has been left to playing 30 minutes off the bench.
Nikora had previously started in all but two of his 154 NRL games, after becoming an 80-minute player from his debut at the beginning of 2019.
“It’s obviously different,” the edge forward said.
“I’m used to playing 80 minutes, so I didn’t know what to expect.
“I was talking to the boys that are used to coming off the bench. They gave me a few tips on it, like when to use your energy and all that type of stuff.
“You can front-load everything, just trying to bring energy and impact. But you’ve got to watch out you don’t blow your load straight away.
“When you’re used to getting bashed up for 80 minutes, if you’re on there for 30, 40 minutes, it feels good. It might add three or four years to my career I reckon.”
AAP
