Things looking up for ALB
Anton Lienert-brown feels the first major injury of his career is ultimately going to make him a better player.
The All Blacks midfielder tore the labrum in his right shoulder in the Chiefs’ Super Rugby Pacific match against the Blues in Hamilton on April 9 – the same injury he suffered last November against Ireland, which kept him out of the final test of the year against France, hence it needing surgery this time.
Six months post-surgery was the initial time slated for a return. However, with the help of Chiefs’ head of strength and conditioning Christos Argus, and physio Teresa Te Tamaki, as well as veteran team-mate Liam Messam, five and a half months became the aim, and yesterday the 27-year-old successfully got through his first full team training session with Waikato.
‘‘It’s nice to be chucking the seed around again,’’ a reflective Lienert-brown said. ‘‘And when you get back out there you realise how much you’ve missed it. It’s been a long couple of months just training by myself.
‘‘The next couple of weeks will tell me if I’m ready or not. And then if not five-and-a-half months, it might be the next week, it might be the week after. We’ll just see how things play out.
‘‘It’s cool now I can see the end of the road.’’
All going well, Lienert-brown is targeting Waikato’s final regular season game against Bay of Plenty in Hamilton on October 2, though he also threw out the possibility of an appearance for Thames Valley or King Country in the Heartland Championship.
Then the All Blacks’ end-of-year tour looms large, starting with a test against Japan in Tokyo on October 29, followed by clashes with Wales, Scotland and England, where the 56-test second fiveeighth/centre will be out to reestablish himself as a key piece of Ian Foster’s plans in a team that he feels is starting to turn things around.
‘‘I guess you can sympathise with what they’re going through,’’ he said. ‘‘I know how hard they’re working, and they’re such special people. I know it’s been tough, but I think you can see now they’re making some really good changes, and they made a statement in the weekend against Argentina, and they’re starting to turn things around.
‘‘I’d love to go on the end-of-year tour, but I always believe you’ve got to prove yourself first.
‘‘The main thing for me is to get back on the footy field and start playing some good rugby.’’
This is the longest Lienert-Brown has been out of the game since he dislocated the same shoulder and needed surgery just after moving north from Christchurch in 2013. But as soon as he suffered this setback, he was intent on looking at the silver lining.
‘‘Nine years of professional rugby, in the same cycle, you don’t get a lot of chances to work on yourself, not a lot of long periods to work on areas of your game as much as you’d want.
‘‘It’s been a nice freshen up, it’s been a good learning curve.
‘‘And the aim is to come back a better player.’’
That will chiefly be through the experience he garnered in an assistant coaching role with the Mooloos, after head coach Ross Filipo came calling with an opportunity. ‘‘I stewed on it for about two weeks, because I know how hard coaches have to work,’’ he quipped.
‘‘But I thought it was a good opportunity for me to challenge myself.’’
Initially asked to run the attack, Lienert-brown felt that would be too much, so instead opted for a backline strikes portfolio, contributing well to the defending champions, who remain the only unbeaten side in the competition.
‘‘I’m certainly grateful for taking on the role because I really have learnt a lot,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s given me a different perspective to how I see the game.
‘‘When you’re a coach you look at opportunities for everyone, all the pictures. As a player you really only review yourself.’’
But, even as much as he often comes across sounding like a coach, it’s ‘‘not the first priority’’ on Lienert-brown’s post-footy jobs list.
A shareholder, with Damian Mckenzie and Stephen Donald, in RTD Grins, Lienert-brown’s stint on the sideline has also seen him dabble in some TV work for Sky, and generally try to keep himself busy, also able to spend more time with his partner from Auckland.
‘‘The biggest thing I learnt is that rugby gives me purpose, connection and structure,’’ he said.
‘‘When you’re at home and you’re in a sling and you don’t have a lot to do, all your mates are at training, you’re not waking up to something you love every day, and you don’t have a plan, it’s important you find that, and in different ways.
‘‘In the first month you’re sitting there with not a lot to do, so you say yes to about 20 things, and then you realise you’re busy. And that’s the way I like to live.
‘‘I’m big on vulnerability and putting yourself in uncomfortable positions.
‘‘I wanted to grow as a person.’’