Former Cowboys Hooker Josh Chudleigh Set for Injury Comeback with Townsville Blackhawks
Monday, April 29, 2019
The former Cowboys hooker will lace his playing boots for the first time in more than 12 months today when he takes the field for the Townsville Blackhawks against the CQ Capras at Jack Manski Oval.
Chudleigh, 25, has been through all this before after he missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL following a mishap during preseason training with the Cowboys.
The Canberra product endured the months of toil in the gym before just three games into his comeback with the Mackay Cutters in 2018 he re-injured his troublesome knee yet again.
Chudleigh had another setback with a two bouts of surgery needed to repair the damage, but he said he was feeling only excitement today as he finally gets to put all that gruelling rehab behind him.
North Queensland Cowboy Josh Chudleigh after surgery. Source: Instagram
“It’s a long way back, but it’s nice to be finally here again. You dream of this as soon as you have surgery, laying in your hospital bed, so it’s good to be back and ready to go,” Chudleigh said.
“I didn’t really have a time frame on it. I was just going with whatever happens here, but the physio had a plan and I got all clear from the surgeon so it’s time to go.
“I think I was a little bit worked up last time I came back from it, but I was quite happy with how I played so that’s given me confidence about actually getting through this one.”
Chudleigh still did his last preseason with the Cowboys, but he was not offered another NRL deal with the club leaving him to focus on his recovery in a part-time system with the Blackhawks.
The talented dummy half admitted there were moments when he considered giving rugby league away, but he believed he could still get back to his best despite his many injury setbacks.
NQ Cowboys training at 1300Smiles Stadium. Josh Chudleigh. Picture: Evan Morgan
“It has been hard putting the knee second to work, I guess, which is what you’ve got to do when you’re in a situation like this,” Chudleigh said.
“There’s some days where you’re not really motivated to train after work and then there’s some days where you get really motivated and all you want to do is train, but you have to go to work first.
“I’ve been pretty lucky. My boss lets me go early if I need to see the physio, but it’s gone from doing physio on it every day to only a couple of days.
“I reckon the surgeon’s done good. We’ve done all the hard work in rehab so it’s time to put it all to work and get a bit of match fitness back and see how we go.”
Chudleigh built an impressive resume during his time in the Cowboys system, named the club’s under-20s player of the year in 2014 before making the step up to Queensland Cup level.
He went on to make his NRL debut with the Cowboys in 2016 and was earmarked as a future star when he was named the Q-Cup’s player of the year while playing for Mackay that same season.
Chudleigh still harbours an ambition to add to his one NRL game with the Cowboys, but he stressed that just getting back on the field after so much injury heartbreak was his sole focus for now.
“Me and ‘Payney’ (Blackhawks coach Aaron Payne) had a good chat and he said it would take a while to get back to what I used to play like so hopefully just take my time and get through the games,” Chudleigh said.
“I wouldn’t be playing footy if I wasn’t trying to get back to NRL. It’s definitely a goal down the track, but I’m not really looking forward to that at the moment.
“It’d be nice to get six or so games into me and then really start pushing some minutes out and seeing how we go.”
