Cam Roigard was arguably the find of the 2023 Super Rugby season but just six weeks into his 2024 campaign an injury saw his career hit a setback.
"I remember looking down — I thought I dislocated my knee cap initially because it wasn't where it was meant to be but low and behold the patella was nowhere to be seen," Roigard said.
In remarkable fashion the halfback is now closing in on a full recovery and could return to the field shortly.
"Just over a month ago I couldn't even squat the bar. Being able to see how much I can progress each week has been pretty awesome. Yesterday I was doing back squats and got up to around 170kgs, which is pretty close to the weight that I was doing before my injury."
"I guess I've become a better athlete because of it in terms of my mental strength, being able to learn what discipline and resilience really looks like through a challenge like this, so although it's been a bit [of a] set back I think once I do come back I'll be a better athlete because of it," he said.
The Hurricanes halfback looked to NRL player Connor Watson, who had a similar injury, for advice.
"He went through the same. He felt like he was going to never bend his knee again so then that gave me the heads up when I was sort of feeling that, it just felt like it was made of glass and you just couldn't move it but I guess talking to him was really good, it reassured me that you do get that flexion back."
Watson's tear sidelined him for 18 months, two of those in a wheelchair, before a successful return earned him a State of Origin debut.
Roigard said he wanted to be back faster.
"I'm hoping to be able to play a couple games of NPC at the back end but it'll be good to get some rugby in, and then if I'm available for the end of year tour, then that'll be great. Obviously, the priority is to try get it back to 100%. We don't want to have any issues when I do come back to playing."
Roigard said his time has been spent getting stronger physically and mentally.
"There's a lot of people that would have a bit of a break, go on holiday, but for me I wanted to crack on. I got goals and I want to achieve them."
The attitude to crack on has been noticed by the right people, with All Blacks coach Scott Robertson saying "he's tracking really well" and he's a "hell of an athlete".
Roigard said "it's really good that they're in the loop and they just haven't let me be and sorta we'll see you when you're fit".
The halfback said he was eager to get back into the All Black framework.
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"There's plenty of competition there and I thrive off that, I love that, so it'll be great to get in the mix with those boys hopefully and, you know, that's how we get the most out of each other. I'm just really looking forward to getting back in the team environment and getting back to doing what I love."
By Lachie McLeod
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