Kangaroos captain James Tedesco has been closely following Ryan Papenhuyzen's long recovery and revealed how he had reached out to the Storm fullback after suffering a similar injury.
Papenhuyzen is set to make his long-awaited return to playing for Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup on Saturday after a 384-day stint on the sidelines since shattering his right kneecap in last year’s Round 18 match against Canberra.
The severity of the injury caused other complications, with Papenhuyzen’s comeback delayed due to a deficiency in his right foot - the same leg he fractured his patella.
Tedesco, the Australian, NSW and Sydney Roosters skipper, suffered a similar injury against the Raiders in 2014 when the then Wests Tigers fullback clashed knees with Canberra captain Terry Campese in the opening tackle.
With Papenhuyzen’s injury also occurring after a clash of knees with Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton, Tedesco contacted the Storm star to check on him and offer advice from his own experience.
“At the start when he was going through it all and he had a few setbacks, I had a couple of messages with him,” Tedesco said.
I was texting him a fair bit … because I went through the same injury.
“His is a bit worse than mine, he had a couple of more shatters – but I have checked in with him a few times to see how he was going.
“I heard it wasn‘t going too great and it was taking a long time, so I just checked in and I just gave him a couple of bits of advice that I had during that time, which was to make sure to build my quad strength up and different exercises I did throughout that time.
“I remember when I did mine, I thought it was just a cork in my knee from a knee-on-knee [contact] but then when I looked down it was real dented and I couldn't bend it because once you bend it, that's the kneecap's job.
Papenhuyzen forced from field
“It was very painful at the start, and I had to keep it straight for a couple of months. An ACL is a pretty similar process – it is just keep building the leg strength back and and the confidence in it, and it does take some time.”
The pair were at West Tigers together, with Papenhuyzen coming through the ranks and Tedesco established in the No.1 jersey, but the Kangaroos and Blues captain contacted him out of concern more than friendship.
“It is a tough injury and mine wasn't as bad as his, but it's a weird one because it's not a ligament and it's not a muscle tissue. It's just a bone and when you are not too confident in that it's hard,” Tedesco said.
“Especially in our position, you have to be agile. you have to be fast and move sharply, so I hope he has no setbacks and it’s all forward from here.”