Crooks relieved as he is told he doesn’t need neck surgery
HULL KR’S Ben Crooks last night spoke of his relief at learning he does not require neck surgery and can resume playing.
The winger, who celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday, has nervously been awaiting news ever since suffering a bulging disc in the 28-8 defeat against Castleford Tigers on February 27.
He was told he may need an operation that could sideline him for six months – ruling him out for the season – but was first given the chance to see if it could be rehabilitated naturally.
Due to the coronavirus, Crooks was only able to have a phone consultation with his specialist at the end of March but he did report progress with no more numbness in his arm.
That offered hope he could avoid surgery and, following a more recent MRI scan, the former Castleford Tigers player has now been told he can restart training immediately.
Obviously, players are still on furlough but Crooks now knows he can be ready when Super League – which marked three months since its last game yesterday – makes its expected return in August.
“It was a massive relief to get the phone call on Friday,” he told
“As much as I was looking forward to getting back playing, it was something that was still in the back of my mind about what if it doesn’t settle down.
“There were lots of things I was thinking about like, having had all this time off and then still having to go in for surgery on it.
“How would it affect me later on in life?
“If it’s not settled down now will it stay that bad? Will it get worse?
“You do have all those things going through your mind so when he said I can crack on with everything I’d done before it was a huge weight off my shoulders.”
Crooks was Super League’s leading scorer with seven tries in the East Yorkshire club’s opening five games when injury struck.
Although lockdown rules are easing, the ex-Hull FC player has still yet to see the specialist in person but has been reassured he can now step up his return to playing.
“I had an MRI a few weeks ago just to see how it had progressed,” Crooks explained.
“But all of this (Covid) was happening so I couldn’t get to see him or get the images to him.
“Dan Ramsden, our physio, had a look and said it had gone down but it looked like it was
still bulging so we were a little bit nervous. We weren’t quite sure how bad that was.
“I was meant to go over and see the specialist in Cheadle and, though it turned out he wasn’t seeing patients, they did do another MRI when I was there.
He gave me a call two days later – last Friday – to say it’d settle down nicely and I can start resuming training as I normally would do”
Crooks added: “He asked when we were starting playing again and, when I said it’s predicted to be around August and would I be okay, he said there’s no reason why not. It’s good news. Nice and positive for us.”
Crooks, Super League’s Young Player of the Year in 2013, is looking forward to seeing some team-mates now lockdown rules are being relaxed slightly.
Being furloughed, players are not obliged to do any training.
However, they can meet in groups of up to six people of their own accord if they do desire.
Crooks, who lives in Castleford, hopes to link up with some of the West Yorkshirebased
Robins players in the near future. He said: “We want to keep our professionalism up.
“We’re allowed to train in smaller groups now, maintaining social distance, so we were going to start that this week. There’s a few West Yorkshire lads. At least we can keep a bit of team camaraderie going but we’re not sure when we’ll start again.”