RUGBY LEAGUE players are some of the toughest sportsmen and women out there in the world.
The willingness and commitment to devote an incredible amount of hours to fine-tune their craft means a long-term injury can often have severe consequences.
For 21-year-old Wesley Bruines, he failed to make an appearance for the Warrington Wolves during Super League 2024 due to injury horrors that plagued his year.
Having joined the Cheshire club ahead of the 2024 season, Bruines was keen to push for a starting spot under Sam Burgess.
However, a series of devastating hamstring injuries and one reconstruction left the 21-year-old on the sidelines for the entire season.
Now Bruines is taking time out of the game for a year to recharge his physical and mental batteries.
“At Warrington, it did not go as planned for me personally and how the club saw it going for me,” Bruines told League Express.
“I’ve had an absolute nightmare with my hamstrings. I have had five major tears and one reconstruction back-to-back, one after the other.
“It has been a really long 14 months. I was very diligent with my rehab and I saw a lot of specialists for different things for what I thought was causing the problems.
“They all said the same, though, they have never seen anything like it. I worked hard as I could all year to get myself in the best possible position to get back.
“I’m the strongest I’ve ever been right now and I feel a totally different athlete.”
However, Bruines is now set to go travelling for a year, but he has not ruled out coming back to the sport.
“This isn’t the end of my rugby league career as in this time away from the sport, I’m going to give my body a rest after all it’s been through.
“I’m then going to see where I am at for 2026 because I feel like I have got a lot to give and I’ll back myself all day.
“Once I get through this rough patch, I know I will be flying and raring to come back.”
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