Broncos captain Alex Glenn reckons he might have another year in him but the NRL’s new rules are making the game too fast for old legs. The 273 game clubman up until last year barely missed a match. But lately he's been dogged by recurrent injuries. The latest will see him miss the next two matches but he's hopeful of making Round 13 against the Dragons:
“I want to be honest with the club. I don’t want to drag them along if I keep getting injuries. I want to give this year a really good crack. Mentally, I could go on another year. But physically I want to make sure my body is right. I don’t want to be on and off the field. I want to be consistently playing my best footy. If I’m doing that at the end of the year I’ll be keen to go again, but I don’t want to make the call right now while I’m injured."
“To be honest, it’s the speed of the game causing injuries. The demands on your body are so much higher than it was five years ago. You are pushing yourself to new boundaries and you have to back it up the next week. It’s a common denominator why teams are having so many injuries. The speed of the game is so fast now and it’s a contact sport. Sometimes you don’t have long enough to recover before the next game."
“You could say I’m getting older and don’t recover as fast, but the way I see it is the speed of the game, new rules and demands on players are causing injuries. It’s not just old fellas getting injuries, it’s young guys as well across all teams.”
Testimonial: check. Retirement: pending.
“If the game keeps going this way I don’t see many players reaching 300 games. I feel like the 200-game mark will be the 300 mark. It’s a very high demand on your body. These young guys can punch out five-six years really well, but later in your career your body will start taking a toll. The game is enjoyable to watch, but from a player’s point of view it is very hard. You can only keep at that level for so long, in the future we’re going to see more injuries. It will become a young man’s sport. I don’t think we will ever see someone go to 36-37 like Cameron Smith did with the speed of this game. The game has been getting faster over the last 10 years with less interchanges. I don’t see it slowing down.”
“Apart from this injury it has been a good year, considering last year which was terrible. Up until I did my calf, my body was amazing and headspace was good. We’re not winning many games at the moment but the vibe is a lot better than last year. I’m personally in a good state of mind. This wasn’t a big injury, you just have to be cautious with a calf injury. I want to get it right and have no more injuries for the remainder of the year.”
McHunt
“I want to be honest with the club. I don’t want to drag them along if I keep getting injuries. I want to give this year a really good crack. Mentally, I could go on another year. But physically I want to make sure my body is right. I don’t want to be on and off the field. I want to be consistently playing my best footy. If I’m doing that at the end of the year I’ll be keen to go again, but I don’t want to make the call right now while I’m injured."
“To be honest, it’s the speed of the game causing injuries. The demands on your body are so much higher than it was five years ago. You are pushing yourself to new boundaries and you have to back it up the next week. It’s a common denominator why teams are having so many injuries. The speed of the game is so fast now and it’s a contact sport. Sometimes you don’t have long enough to recover before the next game."
“You could say I’m getting older and don’t recover as fast, but the way I see it is the speed of the game, new rules and demands on players are causing injuries. It’s not just old fellas getting injuries, it’s young guys as well across all teams.”
Testimonial: check. Retirement: pending.
“If the game keeps going this way I don’t see many players reaching 300 games. I feel like the 200-game mark will be the 300 mark. It’s a very high demand on your body. These young guys can punch out five-six years really well, but later in your career your body will start taking a toll. The game is enjoyable to watch, but from a player’s point of view it is very hard. You can only keep at that level for so long, in the future we’re going to see more injuries. It will become a young man’s sport. I don’t think we will ever see someone go to 36-37 like Cameron Smith did with the speed of this game. The game has been getting faster over the last 10 years with less interchanges. I don’t see it slowing down.”
“Apart from this injury it has been a good year, considering last year which was terrible. Up until I did my calf, my body was amazing and headspace was good. We’re not winning many games at the moment but the vibe is a lot better than last year. I’m personally in a good state of mind. This wasn’t a big injury, you just have to be cautious with a calf injury. I want to get it right and have no more injuries for the remainder of the year.”
McHunt
