Bears junior back in Cowboys mix

COWBOYS youngster and Burleigh junior Shaun Hudson has vowed to repay the faith the club showed in him through his horror injury run as he prepares for his first meaningful game in 18 months this weekend.

Having already dealt with an anterior cruciate ligament injury in under-20s, the outside back went through the ordeal again after suffering a serious knee injury at last year’s Nines.

To add salt to the wound Hudson, who turned 23 yesterday, would have likely made his NRL debut last year due to a Cowboys’ injury crisis.

He could only watch on as fellow young speedsters Gideo Gela-Mosby and Enari Tuala got their first taste of the big time.

Cowboys skipper Matt Scott, also returning from an ACL injury in Saturday’s trial against Wests Tigers in Cairns, was a valuable sounding board for Hudson in the rehab process.

“It’s been about a year and a half now since my last game of 80-minute footy,” Hudson said. “Excited is the word.

“I think nerves will come on game day. I’ve had the injury before. I had it in the under-20s so I knew what to expect when I was going through the rehab this time around.”