“It’s a good laugh, this.” Those were the thoughts of Hull FC forward Brad Fash as he left the field at Castleford Tigers last Friday night, less than one minute into his comeback game.
The 28-year-old was involved in an awkward collision on the very first set, and after some consultation with the club’s medical staff, he was soon off for a head injury assessment. That’s common practice for a Super League player in this day and age, but for one returning after three months out with an ankle injury, you could have forgiven him for thinking the worst.
Fash hadn’t played since injuring his ankle against Wigan in pre-season in a knock that required surgery, but thankfully, after passing the necessary checklists, he got the go-ahead to return.
“I was more annoyed than anything,” Fash continued. “I went down with my shoulder, and they thought I had hurt my head. Luckily, it’s only 15 minutes for the HIA, so it wasn’t too long.
“As for the game, I was a little bit off the pace, given that I’ve not run for a number of weeks, but other than that, it wasn’t too bad. Like anytime when you’re injured, it’s been a bit of a drag, and you’ve got to put the hard work in, but I’m fine now. I’m done with my rehab and recovery, and I’m feeling a lot better.
“That was my first full week of proper training leading up to the game. Grixy was happy with me and said, ‘If I’m good to go, then I can play.’ I was happy with where I was. You’re only going to get fitter by playing, and I need those minutes under my belt. The sooner I could return to the field, the better.”
Fash is now looking to get cracking again and make up for lost time. Handed a new responsibility ahead of the new season as vice captain, the local club junior is now one of the biggest leaders in the side, renowned for his talk during games, something on which the player, who still sports the same mullet that made the Sunday Times’ fashion section two years ago, puts a huge emphasis.
“I’m hoping now that my talk and my presence can help the boys,” he said. “I know we have lacked a lot of leadership this season in terms of just general talk in the middle and out wide and things like that.
“It’s difficult to explain, but you don’t have to be that good at rugby to talk, but it can make you very good at rugby. A lot of the young boys could learn from that and understand that if they talk more, then they will automatically play better as they take more ownership of themselves and the players around them. Once the players around you start playing well due to you relying on them, it enhances your game, so to speak.”
It’s hoped now that Fash, along with an influx of new faces and returning players, can help steer the Hull side to that all-important win. One of those new faces is Ben Reynolds, with the half-back also spoken highly for his communication and organising skills since joining the club.
“Ben’s a good attacking player,” Fash said. “I played with him a number of years ago at Leigh, and he was always very vocal there. He gets you in shape, and he talks to his edge men and gets them in shape.
“When he’s talking that early and getting things ready, it makes the game a lot easier. It’s similar with Truey (Jake Trueman). He’s cool, calm, and collected with his talk, but he’s doing it in plenty of time, and he’s getting boys where he wants them in order to use them. It’s good.”
Doing it tough, Hull are on a well-documented losing run of ten games, with the fixups clear as they prepare to meet Huddersfield Giants on Friday night. For Fash, the goals are simple: win, but at the very least, put in a performance they can build on.
“We’ve got to go out and be confident enough to play,” Fash added. “We are capable of points, but it’s also about finding a balance. If we throw the ball around too early, then we’ll start making stupid errors, and they’re not little; they end up costing you the game.
“But we can be competitive, and we will be. There are just a few things that need fine tuning: errors, penalties, and things like that. Once we get those things sorted, we’ll be there or thereabouts each week.
“We haven’t got a bad team at all. It’s a very strong squad. We just need to do our jobs right in order to get what we want. We need a win or a good performance. That’s the only two things we can look out for.”