Mental barriers no hurdle for Frizell in spectacular St George Illawarra return
Dragons Den
Touchdown: Tyson Frizell scored within a minute of entering the field on Sunday night. Picture: NRL Photos/Paul Barkley.
After suffering an injury that would make most men wince, St George Illawarra star Tyson Frizell admits he was apprehensive about making his return to play on Sunday night.
Once he crossed that white line, however, any concerns about his health were immediately pushed to the back of his mind. And it showed.
Frizell made a barnstorming run with his first carry, before stripping Mitchell Pearce and crossing for a try just seconds later to hand the Dragons the lead.
"I guess it's more a feel kind of thing," Frizell said. "If he had stepped the other way, he would've smoked me.
"It was a right arm carry, right arm tackle, he stepped into my arms and it was a bit of a feel thing, I could feel the ball right in my arms and knew it was one-on-one. It was just a reaction thing, I got pretty lucky no one else jumped in and I came up with a play."
Frizell suffered a
lacerated testicle in the Dragons round one loss to the Cowboys and he described the pain he experienced as excruciating. Surgery quickly ensued to repair the damage.
"Every bloke knows what it's like to get hit there, it was like that times 10 and it didn't go away. It was kind of a weird thing, I just assumed it was going to go away after a while, it sort of all hit me once I got in the sheds, all the adrenaline had gone and the pain wasn't going away.
"I wasn't too sure what was wrong, went to the hospital just to check it out, make sure it was all okay. Within an hour of being at hospital, I was under the knife."
Initially set to miss four to six weeks, Frizell was granted the all clear to feature on Sunday. That clearance, and some region-specific protection, was all he needed to declare himself fit to play.
"Through the week it's a bit of a mind game, more than a physical injury. I've got protection there now to look after me and I wanted to get the all clear from specialists and doctors to make sure that if I do go out and play, I don't have any further injuries down the track.
"I got the all clear and it was more of myself getting my head right and comfortable playing. It's a different injury, it's not an injury you can block out and tough out. Once I got my head right and got the all clear from the specialist and the doc, I was ready to go."
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Frizell's role in the team moving forward is up in the air, with middle forward Korbin Sims set to miss six to eight weeks after breaking his forearm and second rower Jacob Host injuring his ankle in the victory.
After starting in the middle, Frizell replaced Host on the right edge, where he was damaging.
He's confident, however, that no matter where he plays, another testicle injury is unlikely to eventuate.
"It's a weird injury, it's something different. I guess you wear a mouthguard when you get your teeth punched in, when you get knocked in the balls you wear a cup.
"With protection, it pretty much limits that whole risk of getting injured again. I guess I'm more protected than the rest of the blokes out there."
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