St George Illawarra Dragons forward Tyson Frizell vows he’ll be fit for season start despite injury setback

TYSON Frizell is confident a flare-up of an ongoing back injury won’t keep him sidelined for the start of the NRL season, despite being placed on light duties.

St George Illawarra star Tyson Frizell is confident he can overcome a back injury before round one. Picture: Gregg Porteous

TYSON Frizell is confident a flare-up of an ongoing back injury won’t keep him sidelined for the start of the NRL season, despite being placed on restricted duties.

Frizell joined his St George Illawarra representative teammates in Josh Dugan, Jason Nightingale and Gareth Widdop in returning to pre-season training last week. But an ongoing back injury — which threatened his career — has again hampered Frizell’s pre-season.

It also almost ruled him out of Australia’s Four Nations final win over New Zealand after his back seized up in the team’s penultimate training session.

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St George Illawarra star Tyson Frizell is confident he can overcome a back injury before round one. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Frizell was recovering from a back operation this time last year and while the recent setback is not as severe he will not rejoin the full squad until the end of this month. He is not expected to complete contact training for another six weeks.

“Before the [Four Nations] final I had a little hiccup with my back,” Frizell said. “It’s something I’m not unfamiliar with and I’ve learnt to look after this time around. It’s the exact same thing as I had last year.

“It won’t require any surgery rather just a bit of time off. It’s something I can manage.

Australia's Tyson Frizell runs into New Zealand's Martin Taupau during the Four Nations final at Liverpool in November. Picture: AFP

“Hopefully I’ll get one or two trials in and I’ll definitely be right for round one.

“Everyone who has played rugby league for a while has an injury that they need to look after for the rest of their career.”

Frizell is still coming to terms with a dream 2016 season in which he starred in his first games for NSW before earning a Kangaroos debut. The 25-year-old is ready to take his game to another level buoyed by the confidence that comes from such a strong season.

Tyson Frizell makes a break for NSW on the way to score a try during the third State of Origin game at ANZ Stadium last year. Picture. Phil Hillyard

“(Confidence) is definitely something I struggled with from the start of my career,” Frizell said. “From my debut to now I’ve slowly progressed through my rugby league career in terms of my confidence. It’s been a long thing for me but I was blessed to get an opportunity at Origin level and to play overseas.

“It wasn’t a year I thought would come so quick. It was a year I’ll never forget.”

The Dragons are looking to bounce back after a poor 2016 campaign which yielded just 10 wins.

“Hopefully we can start something new this year,” Frizell said. “We’ve put last year to bed and worked through everything that happened.

“Now I’m hoping I can bring more to the team and a bit more consistent footy. I’m not sure if I’ll be one of the senior players around the team but I’ll put my two cents worth in wherever I can. I’ll be happy to work hard on the field and help lead the team to a healthy kind of year.”