Import’s disaster ends in final joy

RONNY Vargas talks a lot about moments — like the one where he looked down at his mangled leg, and the one five months later when he got kicked in exactly the same place and realised with relief that his leg was still in one piece.

Most of all, there’s the moment to come tonight when he gets to play in a grand final he once feared he would never be part of.

You can see why the Venezuelan import is popular in the Newcastle dressing room from the warmth of his personality, quite apart from any appreciation of his recovery from the break of both his tibia and fibula and the dislocation of his ankle last October.

It was assumed his season was over, weeks after arriving in the country. Vargas had visions of his career being over.

“To be honest, yes — I’d had bad injuries before, but nothing like this,” he said.

The silver lining was the presence in the crowd of Brisbane surgeon Jeremy Bartlett, who followed him to hospital, operated immediately, and offered some cautious hope.

“The reaction of the doctor that day was very positive — something I will value until I die,” Vargas said.

Since his return in March, Vargas has grown stronger by the week after surviving the anxiety of his first tackle. Now he is keen to win the title.

“I like to win, I didn’t come here to be just one more player,” he said. “We’re going to win, we have to. We have to be positive. It will be something beautiful for us, for the club, for the fans, for the city, for everybody.”