Quinlan: I can’t wait to get started again
After enduring another frustrating season on the field in 2020, a trip back home to Australia was just the tonic Adam Quinlan needed.
The Hull KR full-back made only four Super League appearances last year, suffering an ankle injury in round two before fracturing his wrist two games into the restart.
It was a difficult year off the field, too, with the UK under some form of restriction since last March.
Quinlan understandably opted to fly back to Australia for a few weeks and enjoyed a return to normality over the Christmas period, as well as the news trickling through from his adopted home.
“It was good when I was back home,” he told the Mail. “I’d wake up in the morning and would see online that there was a new signing.
“The recruitment has been really good. All the players we’ve signed are going to add a lot to us.
“I spent a little bit of time with Brad (Takairangi) at Parramatta and he has got a lot of flair about his play. I’m looking forward to linking up with him and the rest of the boys.
“It’s really positive and the squad is shaping up nicely. It’s exciting times going into the season.
“I can’t wait to get some combinations going in training and hopefully get out there and do well on the field.
“It’s exciting looking at what we’ve got to work with. Hopefully we can improve a lot on last season.”
It is a big year for Quinlan after being restricted to just 14 outings in the previous two seasons.
That he still managed to score nine tries in between injuries underlines his importance to Rovers and the club will be hoping to see a lot more of the Australian in 2021.
The early signs are encouraging at the start of the new year, with Quinlan reporting no pain in the arm he broke against old club St Helens at the end of August.
“That one was a bit of a freak accident and nothing could be done,” he said.
“The amount of times you dive on a ball and you’re all sweet, but my arm just happened to get in an awkward spot as the St Helens player landed on it. It was pretty sore at the time.
“I didn’t know exactly what happened, I just looked down and saw my wrist wasn’t in the right spot. I thought, ‘Oh f*ck, here we go again’.
“Once I had it operated on it was a case of waiting for the bone to heal and going by the timescale the surgeon gave me. It was lucky in the fact I was still able to do other things in the gym so I wasn’t restricted in that way which was good.
“It’s all good now and I’ve jumped straight in and am doing everything at training. I don’t even notice it so I can hopefully put that behind me now.”
Rovers are working towards a mid-march start but the latest lockdown appears to have scuppered hopes of having small crowds back for round one.
Quinlan’s message to KR fans is that they will have a big role to play once they are given the green light to return to Craven Park.
“It makes a big difference when you play in front of a crowd, especially at home,” said the 28-year-old.
“We obviously didn’t get to play here at all after we started back last year.
“Hopefully we can get back here and the crowd will be back cheering us on and we can put on a good show for them.”