Gareth Ellis: Injuries are tough, but my playing days definitely over

CHEERS: Gareth Ellis receives a gaurd of honour after his last home match for Hull FC last year. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

IT seems everyone is having problems with injuries at the moment and I can't ever remember a time '“ throughout the game '“ as bad as this.

People often got niggly problems but, in these last few years in particular, there seems a hell of a lot more serious ones.

I’m talking about season-ending injuries or issues that need three-month surgeries. They seem to be more prevalent currently. I don’t know why that is. Speaking from a Hull FC perspective, looking at the injuries we have now, I do wonder if it is just time catching up with us.

By that, I mean we have played every round of both competitions – Super League and Challenge Cup – aside from the Grand Final itself for the last two years and a lot of our players had played almost all of those matches.

Gareth Ellis and Danny McGuire leave the Headingley pitch after last year's play-off semi-final, Ellis's final game as a player. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

Are all of those minutes and all of those games now just taking their toll?

Leeds Rhinos might be in a similar position, for instance. It’s hard to get a definitive answer.

Looking at the science of it all nowadays, we know exactly how many minutes players are running for, we can measure all their workloads and all the pre-hab and re-hab work is better than ever.