NRL 2020: Wests Tigers fullback Adam Doueihi played injured to keep spot at Rabbitohs
At the end of his Rabbitohs days, Adam Doueihi was barely training and having half-time painkilling injections just to get through games. It’s the dark side young NRL stars face to risk their bodies for success.
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New Wests Tigers fullback Adam Doueihi has revealed he played most of his last season at South Sydney with painkilling injections out of fear he would lose his spot in the side.
Like so many young players Doueihi had played just a handful of NRL games and was desperate to to cement his place as a regular starter.
At 21, Doueihi was already making a return from an ACL injury in round 12 last year, only to battle through a troublesome ankle injury.
From then on his season degenerated into regular painkilling injections to get through games, while he was almost unable to train as he finished 2019 in the sought-after Rabbitohs fullback jersey.
In a cruel twist and despite his selfless and potentially harmful dedication to stay on the field, Doueihi lost the No.1 jersey when Souths signed Latrell Mitchell and he was forced out of the club.
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“I had a little niggle in my ankle and I was playing with it needled which was a bit annoying towards the end of the year and I had a clean out,” he said.
“I started [getting painkillers] around round 13 and from then I was barely training in the last few weeks. There were some games I would get re-needled at halftime if I had to. It was the best for me personally but it was something I had to do.”
Only in his second year of NRL and with merely 15 games to his name, Doueihi said he was willing to “suck up” the pain to retain a spot in coach Wayne Bennett’s side.
“A young kid like me not having the games behind me or the experience to say to the coach, ‘I want a few weeks off’ … Wayne was a new coach and you always want to impress the new coach,” Doueihi said. “I never thought to have a few weeks off. I was probably too scared to not get my position back. I guess I had to suck it up.”
After making his NRL debut for the Rabbitohs in 2018, Doueihi was forced to look for a new home when Latrell Mitchell arrived at Redfern in January despite having two more years on his contract.
Originally a playmaker, Doueihi had been impressing as a fullback but was leapfrogged by Mitchell for the position.
Doueihi was released to join the Tigers on a four-year deal with the view he would get first crack at the fullback spot.
“My first few years in first grade, I have been thrown around in every position in the backline,” he said. “Although I did come through as a half, the more games I have played at fullback I have actually felt very comfortable there. I do see myself as a long term fullback.”
Tigers coach Michael Maguire named Doueihi at centre in rounds one and two, easing his transition into the side. But Doueihi is expected to wear the No.1 jumper in round three against Cronulla next Saturday.
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“It’s a position I have been playing for the past 12 months. I came to this club wanting to be a fullback, I trained well in the off-season and in the first two rounds Thomo [Corey Thompson] shared [the role] a bit but Madge [Maguire] has gone my way and I’m thankful for that.”
Doueihi’s move to the back will leave Thompson to battle it out with Robert Jennings for a spot on the left wing.
Skipper Moses Mbye will return from a knee injury to take his place in the centres.
Originally published as NRL 2020: Wests Tigers fullback Adam Doueihi played injured to keep spot at Rabbitohs