Player injury diary: Will Wardle
The Queensland Rugby League’s player injury diary, presented by TPIL Lawyers, provides greater insight into how our Hostplus Cup and BMD Premiership athletes return from injury and how they overcome the physical and mental challenges that can come with being sidelined.
In this edition, Townsville Blackhawks forward Will Wardle reveals the battle he has faced this year after moving to Queensland from New South Wales, sidelined for the majority of the season with a bulging disc.
Player injury diary: Will Wardle
Moving to Queensland was going to be a new opportunity for me.
I’m originally from Western Sydney, a little town called Buxton, and I grew up there playing all my junior footy.
Two years ago, I moved out to Parkes and while I was there, I played in the Country team in 2021 with Terry Campese as assistant coach.
When I saw he was coaching up here with the Townsville Blackhawks, I touched base with him and they offered me a train and trial.
It was a fresh start and early on it was great.
The heat knocked me around a bit and I did get a bit of a shock from the humidity.
But mostly throughout pre-season everything was good and it felt like I was at home.
I was 18th man in Round 1 and then made my debut in Round 2. But then, in a twist, I got tackled at training the week after Round 2 and I’ve been out ever since.
It was a routine tackle. I got chopped around the ankles and fell down on my hip twice within 20 minutes. It was the exact same scenario, exact same tackle.
I felt it was a little bit sore but didn’t think much about it. It stayed sore for the rest of the week.
I was then 18th man against Pride in Round 3 but for that match, I couldn’t even sit on the bench. I had to stand the whole time because I was just in pain. After that, it was just no good.
The pain was in my lower back and running down my left leg. It’s like sciatic pain, nerve pain. Before coming up here, I had had sciatica and a scan in December showed I had a bulging disc.
To try to fix this flare up, I was going back and forth to the physio and seeing the doctor. They put me on anti-inflammatories and painkillers but it didn’t really do anything.
I do youth support work with NDIS but I couldn’t work. I couldn’t sit down, I had to lie down. I was in bed or on the couch for a good eight weeks.
Once the anti-inflammatories still weren’t working, they sent me for a cortisone injection in my back but after a couple weeks, it was still no better. Still the same.
That was in April. Then the doctor referred me to a specialist.
I was told that basically after getting injured at training, my nerve was getting pinched by my bulging disc where it goes through my hip. Eventually they worked out it was all to do with the bulging disc in my back.
I had a meeting with the specialist and he talked about burning the nerves.
It all took a while – there were a few long waits. I also had some tough times with my health insurance because I haven’t been with them for 12 months yet and then they deemed it an existing injury.
Nothing was made easy and it started to make the head noise a lot worse, but it’s something other players should be aware of as well.
But I got the nerves burned on July 9 and I had my first training run at the end of last month.
There’s still a long way to go. I realised that after my first run. I thought I’d be back in four weeks but it proved I’m just getting ready for pre-season again.
There’s no denying, it’s definitely been tough. Obviously I came up here and had aspirations to play the whole year, prove to myself that I can build and have a crack.
But it’s definitely been tough. I’ve never had something keep me out of footy for this long. I’ve learnt a lot about myself through it all.
Firstly, that I’m not as young as I once was.
But secondly, that the mind is a very powerful thing.
There’s a lot of days where I struggled and you just get in your own head. But if you can stay out of your own head, it’s pretty powerful.
I’ve been lucky the boys up here are a good bunch of blokes. One of the boys’ missus even cooked me lunches and dinners.
The strength and conditioning coach is a legend – Lee Paterson. He checks in three times a week and has drawn up a plan for me to be ready to have a strong pre-season.
Obviously there’s no family up here but I do have a very supportive family who are always on the phone making sure I’m going alright. I’m very lucky.
Work’s been good too. I had 12 weeks off and I’m only casual, but I’m back working now.
I don’t know what awaits me beyond this year.
I know Campo wants me to stick around, which is massive.
I haven’t put pen to paper yet but it was massive to hear that moving forward he wants to sign me and keep me around the club.
