Broken But Not Bowed

Newcastle Herald

Thursday March 22, 2007

BRETT KEEBLE - LEAGUE 2007

WHEN his feet hit the floor every morning, the lingering ache in his right ankle reminds Daniel Abraham how close he came to being an ex-footballer.

At least he can get out of bed these days.

What was once a mangled mess of broken bones and torn tendons and tissues, and threatened to end his career several times in the past few years, has healed as well as it ever will.

The maze of crimson scars on his lower leg look like he tried to drop-kick a chainsaw.

Any mental baggage has been all but stowed in long-term storage.

Abraham is not only walking again, he is running, and playing, and playing well enough to be back in Newcastle's run-on side for tomorrow night's game against the Dragons at Kogarah as a five-eighth.

Having started his NRL career in 2000 as a fullback and centre, Abraham is better known as a back-row forward who played in Newcastle's 2001 grand final-winning team and represented Country Origin in that position in 2003 and 2004.

His well-documented injury problems began when he broke his right ankle in the 2004 City-Country game at Gosford on May 7.

Since that night, he has played just 14 NRL games. Five matches into 2005 he snapped his right tibia and fibula, and it has taken several operations and countless hours of painful rehabilitation to put him back together again.

He spent the bulk of 2006 in Premier League, but his main goal was to finish the year on two legs so he could hit the ground running in preparation for this season.

"Twelve months ago I wasn't running at all . . . twelve months ago I felt all over the shop, but things look a little bit more certain now. I feel more confident and I guess the least of my worries is my leg," Abraham said.

"I think it's always going to be something in the back of your mind, but it makes you appreciate things a bit more. You take for granted the time you spend on the field when you're younger and bouncing out of bed the morning after a game of football.

"Now I don't bounce out of bed as quick, and you appreciate your time out there now because I was that close to nearly not playing again.

"In that time off the park, you mature a little bit, and you've got to because there's a lot of adversity you've got to get through to get back out there.

"You grow up a little bit, you learn a bit, and hopefully what you take out of that time on the sideline can improve your game when you get back on the field, which is what I'm trying to do."

Abraham, who is off contract at the end of the year, even scheduled his annual off-season ankle clean-up in his own time to make sure he made every training session he could.

"I knew how important this year was for my career . . . I knew what had to be done and what I had to get through because I've been there before," he said.

"Good things come to those who work hard, so I took that mentality into the pre-season.

"Anyone who has a really good season has usually had a good off-season prior to that. I didn't start until round 10 last year, so the boys were playing footy before I'd even started running again.

"I think I spent maybe one week in rehab this whole pre-season, so that's the most running I've done in quite some time. I knew I was putting the work in, but there's always that confidence that you lack until you start playing."

Daniel Abraham is due a change of luck after two horror injuries almost wrecked his career.