Despite feeling like someone had thrown a hammer at his leg, Joey Leilua is confident of being fit for Sunday’s NRL grand final.
The strike centre sent a scare through the Raiders camp when he limped from the field in last week’s preliminary final win over South Sydney with what turned out to be a burst blood vessel in his calf.
In a sight which would have come as welcome relief to coach Ricky Stuart, his teammates and the Raiders faithful, Leilua trained strongly with the group on Tuesday.
Asked about what the injury felt like, Leilua said: “It felt like someone throwing a hammer at your leg.
“It looked like a big-as egg and I was trying to cover it so no one could see.
“Then the physio kept coming and squeezing the s*** out of my knee, I was about to give him something.
“Then he said it was just a blood vessel that popped. It looked worse than it was, it was very sore at the time because it was near the shin. It was aching.”
After adhering to a rigorous recovery schedule over the last four days, which included icing his injured calf every 30 minutes, Leilua says he’s well placed to take his spot for the season decider against the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium.
“It should be sweet, it was about 70 to 80 per cent,” Leilua said.
“It should be right by Sunday. It felt good to be running again, just that fitness part was a bit hard.”
Fuelling Leilua’s determination to take the field is the fact he has fought back from much worse this year.
In May he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a neck injury, only to return less than three months later.
“This is nothing compared to the neck,” Leilua said.
Meanwhile the Raiders are confident co-captain Josh Hodgson will play despite missing training on Tuesday with a virus.
As a precaution, Hodgson was quarantined from teammates however has been named in the No.9 jersey in an unchanged Raiders line up.
Mystery continues to surround opposite hooker Jake Friend after Roosters coach Trent Robinson kept his promise to keep people guessing.
Friend has been named in the No.20 on an extended bench but could be a late inclusion after being sidelined for the last 10 weeks with a fractured forearm and calf injury.
Injuries have restricted Friend to five games this season, allowing Sam Verrills to make the most of his chance as the starting hooker.
Verrills has once against been named in the No.9 jersey while five-eighth Luke Keary was also listed on the Roosters team sheet, although Robinson has named a back-up in Drew Hutchison.
