Secret behind Radley’s improbable return

Roosters enforcer Victor Radley thought for sure that his season was over when he slumped to the Allianz Stadium turf in agony against the Raiders, but some sage advice from a few former teammates has him primed for the preliminary final after he made a shock return in last week’s win over Manly.

Radley fractured his left scapula in round 26 and many people assumed that he’d be joining Sam Walker and Brandon Smith on the sidelines for the rest of 2024, but a positive consultation with a specialist resulted in him not needing surgery and gave him hope of a swift return.

It’s why he was able to start against Manly, with the lock opening the scoring before he was given a rest after 30 minutes and didn’t have to return, which resulted in him having “splinters in my arse” as Radley sat on the bench.

As annoying as they can be, he would have gladly taken splinters after what happened a few weeks ago.

“I thought I was gone for sure,” he said.

“I didn’t know what had happened because I haven’t had too many shoulder injuries. I thought it must have subluxed or dislocated or something because I was in that much pain so I thought I was gone for sure.

“But then I got my scan and saw it was a break. Funnily enough I was stoked with that. The doctor then called and said ‘let’s get this thing healed’. I’m a good healer, so I was stoked with the result.

“(I thought) screw it, it’s do-or-die.”

His rapid recovery wasn’t lost on his Roosters teammates who didn’t actually believe him at the time when he told them that he wanted to play again this year.

“I think everyone in the game knows the type of player and person he is. He’s tough and he’s hard,” five-eighth Luke Keary said.

“When he said that he was going to play, we weren’t expecting it, but we weren’t surprised that he thought he could play with it.

“It’s what we needed and it’s what we’ve always had from him from the moment he came here as an 18-year-old.”

It’s easy to make a direct comparison to legendary halfback Cooper Cronk, who played the 2018 grand final with a busted shoulder, but Radley was told straight away by the team’s physio that the two injures were not alike because Cronk’s shoulder blade was essentially broken in half.

But that didn’t stop Radley from reaching out to other club legends like Boyd Cordner, Anthony Minichiello and Mitchell Aubusson who were more than happy to help.

“Boydo said to ring ‘Mini’ and ask him for some advice, so I did that and it started to heal after a week and then two weeks,” he recalled.

“I just messaged him but he was overseas. He came back a few days later and sent me some supplements and some natural stuff that he’s used in the past when he had those back injuries.

“They helped get his career back on the right path when he was a bit older. It was nothing that other people aren’t taking, so I probably should’ve been taking them anyway.

“I spoke to ‘Aubo’ at the start of the week and asked if I was being selfish for wanting to play or selfish for wanting to get myself right.

“He just said that if you think you’re all right to play then you do everything you can. If you get ruled out then you get ruled out.

“That’s why this is the best club in the world. So many blokes who are such legends here are kept around so they are always at your disposal.

“You can speak with ‘Boydo’ first thing and then speak to Aubo and then Mini. There are so many people with life experience that you can go to at the click of your fingers.

“That’s why it feels like home for me. I’m so lucky.”