Bunny’s battle to overcome head blow

SOUTH Sydney centre Campbell Graham is one win away from his first NRL grand final, but he wouldn’t be in this position if he hadn’t spend a fortnight doing “absolutely nothing” following a bout of concussion.

Graham is on a high following the Rabbitohs’ finals win over Penrith, but he wasn’t feeling so confident in round 18 when he copped an innocuous hit to the head while playing against Canterbury.

The incident occurred 22 minutes into the first half when Bulldogs winger Jayden Okunbor took a hit-up and his footwork at the line left Graham’s head in the wrong place.

The contact sidelined the Souths flyer (pictured) for more than a month and left him sitting in his hotel room two weeks after the incident feeling alone and struggling to deal with his emotions.

Graham has recovered as he looks to help

Souths win a title, but the memories of his concussion remain.

“It was quite frustrating,” Graham said. “I would take one step forward and two steps back. I’d get two or three sessions in and then my symptoms would progressively get worse.

“It wasn’t until I had two weeks off doing completely nothing that I was able to get back into training and get through all the protocols. I was patient with it and looking back I’m pretty glad I took the side of caution and when I was fit, I was ready to go.”

Graham’s concussion ordeal was made harder given he was in the NRL bubble in Queensland away from family and friends in Sydney. Thankfully, he had the support of his teammates and coaches, who made his health a priority.

“They reassured me there was no rush and I was able to do that with no pressure on me, which made the situation a lot better,” he said. “I was pretty confident I would be ready to go for the finals. It was just a bit of a race to get a couple of games under my belt to build that match fitness up.”