EIGHT thousand, eight hundred and forty eight.
That’s how many metres it is to climb Mount Everest.
How do I know that useless statistic? Well that’s what it says on the versa climber at our club gym. And considering I’ve spent the last eight weeks in rehab, it’s pretty hard to forget.
I still haven’t played this year, waiting for my hamstring to heal. It’s the eighth time I’ve done it and it’s as frustrating as ever.
Rehab can be a lonely place, although I’ve got a few things to keep me busy including the versa climber, boxing, bike riding and the rowing machine.
I can assure you that none of these are fun, especially when our strength and rehabilitation coach, Tim Reeve is telling you to push harder or to go for “one more effort’’.
I know the program off by heart, strength exercises and fitness work, normally 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off.
Our rehab group is pretty small at the moment, but I have had a couple of team mates who have been with me for the journey.
Pat Giuffreda and Adam Pepe, actually Pat has been in rehab since the start of pre-season with a groin injury so he must be really sick of Tim Reeve.
You get to know the boys in rehab pretty well and you have an understanding of each other’s frustration at being in the group, but that doesn’t stop you from cracking jokes at each other’s expense to get through the session. All going well, I’ll be back the week after the state game break (May 30). And I would have thought I’ll be coming back through the Reserves.
As for the start of our season, we have been notoriously slow starters and after losing to the Bulldogs then drawing with Westies, it looked like we were heading down a similar path.
But to the guys’ credit we have been able to string a few wins together, and with the exception of Saturday’s loss to Sturt, the mood has been pretty positive.
There is a lot of pressure on players to keep their spots and that only makes us stronger.