McKendry fired up for another return
THE last time Sam McKendry played an NRL game he wasn’t even a father yet. He wasn’t far away from becoming one, but his life hadn’t turned completely upside down.
The next time family members come rushing onto an NRL field after a game, he will have two kids to juggle. He doesn’t need to be told how long it’s been since he pulled on the Panthers strip.
‘‘I’ve had a couple of kids and now have a 17-month-old girl and six-month-old boy,’’ McKendry said. ‘‘They keep me busy and they’ve kept me occupied when I’ve been injured and had all that downtime.
‘‘I’ve had more time to spend with them and I’ve had to make the most of it before the season starts. It shows you how much you have to appreciate life.
‘‘It will be exciting to take the little ones on the field after the game and it will be a good experience for them.’’
The easy option for the NRL’s forgotten man would be to mope about a career at the crossroads after not one, but two cruciate ligament ruptures to the same knee that have sidelined him since July, 2016. Yet McKendry hasn’t, and won’t.
The second one, suffered in a trial game as he embarked on a comeback last year, might have broken others. But Penrith’s longest serving player knew there would always be a way back.
‘‘It’s not good [when the second one occurs], but I knew what I was in for and I knew what I had to do to get back,’’ McKendry said.
‘‘I had my head around it. I feel fresh and ready to play. When you haven’t played for so long you just can’t wait to to play and I’m fighting fit now.’’
After his first knee hiccup, McKendry found himself consulting Panthers captain Peter Wallace about recovery and then in turn imparting that same advice to Josh Mansour. Then he found himself in rehabilitation alongside Mansour a couple of months later.
But the New Zealand international’s imminent return in Penrith’s first trial against the Roosters on February 17 will provide coach Anthony Griffin with some added starch up front.
James Tamou will be more settled in his second season at the foot of the mountains, Reagan Campbell-Gillard will be brimming with confidence after playing a huge role in Australia’s successful World Cup defence and Tim Browne is still in the mix.
And it hasn’t taken long for McKendry, 28, to impress some new team-mates.
‘‘He’s been one of our best trainers and it’s been burning inside of him – and you can tell,’’ Tamou said.
‘‘His skinfolds are good for a big guy and he’s obviously strong. When we do wrestling he’s just folding everyone. He loves contact. He has become the forgotten man and after a couple of years of being out he’s really fired up and we’re excited to see him.’’
When you haven’t played for so long you just can’t wait to to play and I’m fighting fit now.’ SAM MCKENDRY
The Sun-Herald