Injured Titans captain Ryan James admits he has been doing it tough watching his team’s season unravel while he recovers from a knee reconstruction.
James revealed he is slightly ahead of schedule with his rehabilitation after rupturing his ACL in the Titans’ win over Newcastle in Round 6, and is hoping to resume running in four weeks.
“I have done four treadmill sessions in the water now, and we are slowly dropping down the water level so it is more like running on land,” James said.
“It is coming along nicely, and I get a little break over the next couple of weeks and then straight back into it. The knee is coming along fine, and hopefully if everything keeps going along on schedule I should be back to rip into it on the first day of pre-season.”
But James confesses he has felt helpless watching on as the Gold Coast’s finals hopes evaporated with a mid-season slump, and being unable to get onto the field to help his beloved Titans.
“It is tough,” James said. “Especially as I’m getting pretty old now, so you just want to play as much footy as you can.
“It is tough watching footy from the sidelines. You just want to go out there and represent where you come from.
“I am a proud Gold Coaster and I love pulling on that Titans jersey and representing where I come from ever week.
“Missing pretty much a full year of footy definitely hurts, so it is going to be good to go away and freshen up for a couple of weeks and then come back and get into footy mode.”
