Ronny redemption follows bad break
RONNY Vargas talks a lot about moments – like the one when he looked down as 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 on Saturday night when he gets to play in a grand final he once feared he would never be part of.
You can see why Vargas 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.
The severity of the injury was such that it was assumed his season was over, just weeks after arriving in the country. But Vargas had visions of his career being over.
“To be honest, yes — I’d had bad injuries before, but nothing like this,” he said. “When you look at your leg in this moment, it’s something you have to go through to understand what it feels like.”
The silver lining was the presence in the crowd of Brisbane surgeon Jeremy Bartlett, who followed him to hospital, operated immediately, and offered Vargas some cautious hope.
“The reaction of the doctor that day, to do the surgery straight away, was very positive — something I will value until I die. Because that was the first step to bring me back.
“Once we took the x ray, he told me it was a bad injury, but not as bad as he had thought. So that gave me the thought that I would have another chance to play, and I knew it would be up to me.
“I am the kind of guy who will never give up. I said I would do everything I could to get back, and now I am enjoying this moment with my teammates.”
Since his return in March, Vargas has grown stronger by the week after surviving the anxiety of his first tackle.
“For me that moment was bad but at the same time good, because you feel that you are strong. To be honest the kick I received in the last game (from Melbourne City’) was worse because it was really where I had the screw.”