As he lines up to make his first tackle of the NRL pre-season - with a right shoulder that has required four bouts of surgery in the past few years - Knights forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon insists there will be no thoughts of self-preservation lingering in the back of his mind.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"It wouldn't matter if a car hit it," Fitzgibbon told the Newcastle Herald.
"It's good to go. The surgeries have actually made it stronger, in a way.
"Now it's just about staying on top of the rehab and hopefully there are no more issues."
The 29-year-old back-rower played only nine games last year, and 10 the season before that, after more visits to the operating theatre than he would care to remember.
"It's part and parcel of the game," he said.
"I was super lucky early in my career. From the age of about 20 until 26, I had minimal injuries.
"This last two or three years, I guess it's caught up with me.
"But touch wood, I won't have many too serious injuries in the years to come."
His latest setback occurred in Newcastle's 42-12 loss to Sydney Roosters last year and was probably overshadowed by the concussion that prematurely ended skipper Kalyn Ponga's season.
"The reconstruction held, but there was another weak point in my shoulder, which was my shoulder capsule," Fitzgibbon said.
"They had to go in there and stitch it up a little bit and clean up a bit of cartilage that was causing me a bit of grief.
"It wasn't a full reco but it was enough to put me out for two or three months."
Since surgery in mid-August, the former South Newcastle junior said he had resumed full-contact training and his problematic shoulder was "almost back to normal".
After the departure of long-time teammate Mitch Barnett to the Warriors, Fitzgibbon has set his sights on the left-edge back-row role in Newcastle's starting pack.
"That's where I always aspire to play, but it's one week at a time," he said.
"I've had a couple of disrupted pre-seasons over the last few years and my short-term goal is to get through this pre-season unscathed, which I've managed to do so far.
"It's five or six weeks until trials, so I'll be trying to put my best foot forward and see what happens.
"But there'll be some healthy competition. And that's good, because we push each other and that's what you want from the players."
A 2015 debutant for Newcastle, Fitzgibbon has played in 98 top-grade games for his home-town club and has no doubt the Knights are ready to give a better account of themselves in 2023, after their disappointing 14th-placed finish last year.
"We had a really promising start, but then a few things didn't go our way and it spiralled a little bit," he said.
"It felt like a bit of a backward step, but in saying that there were a lot of learnings and lessons that came out of last year.
"We've addressed that already and we're looking to make amends."
READ MORE:
- First images of 15,000-seat stadium Cricket NSW wants built at Broadmeadow
- Strong Newcastle contingent in Bush Breakers eyeing Australian Country success: Cricket
- Newcastle Jets out to ground high-flying Sydney in A-League Women
- Why history offers a glimmer of hope that the Newcastle Knights can bounce back in 2023
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
