Why Kade Dykes couldn’t break season-ending news to his parents

Cronulla’s Kade Dykes has revealed the exact moment his 2023 season was over and how he plans to come back a better footballer.

Kade Dykes‘ pre-season ended abruptly. Picture: Supplied by Sharks

A shattered Kade Dykes needed Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon to phone his parents and break the news that his season was over.

“I couldn’t do it,’’ Dykes told News Corp.

“I called Mum and Dad back once I knew ‘Fitzy’ had spoken to them.

“It was hard.”

This was how Dykes spent his 21st birthday, coming to terms with his season being over, before it could begin.

Out on the field, at a Sharks training camp in Wollongong last Tuesday, Dykes was running with the football when suddenly his knee collapsed.

Kade Dykes’ pre-season ended abruptly. Picture: Supplied by Sharks

He felt the pop of his ACL rupturing – a stomach-churning feeling that those who have experienced it never forget.

“I was running with the ball and I tried to step and I think I put my foot out too far out to the side and as soon as I stood off it, I felt it go,” Dykes said.

“It just makes me feel sick when I think about that initial feeling.”

The son of Sharks legend Adam Dykes was bound for the biggest year of his burgeoning career.

After tasting NRL in two appearances last season, followed by the exit of Lachie Miller to Newcastle, Dykes was being tipped as a genuine contender for the Sharks fullback position in 2023.

Instead, he will undergo surgery on Wednesday where the 12-month comeback story genuinely begins.

Unfortunate confirmation of an ACL rupture for Kade Dykes, will undergo reconstruction surgery & not play again in 2023. Usually a 9 month recovery period, wish him the best with surgery & recovery ahead pic.twitter.com/abqWZi1RUh

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) February 2, 2023

Dykes, a class act in the way he carries himself and religiously prepares to make it in the NRL, says he has been lifted by those who have experienced the injury every footballer dreads, including Cronulla teammates Wade Graham, Connor Tracey and Toby Rudolf.

“At first you think it’s the end of the world, but when I see guys like Wade and Connor, and what they’ve been able to do after coming back from an ACL, that makes me feel a lot better,’’ Dykes said.

“Wado has been really good, checking in with me and Connor Tracey as well, he’s had a tough run having had three of them (torn ACL’s).

Pictured at home in Caringbah former Sharks legend Adam Dykes with his son, Kade. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“He (Tracey) sat with me for an hour in the sheds talking to me and reassuring me that everything is going to be all right.

“Being so close to the season, it’s hard to take.

“But it could be worse.

“I’m fortunate I’ve got a job still and a contract so hard as it is, it also puts things into perspective in that I still have a lot to be grateful for.’’

Dykes said he planned to use the entire season to become a sponge for developing his game, albeit from the sideline.

“I want to learn as much as I can in the video sessions and use this next period to learn as much as I can about the game and about myself,’’ Dykes said.

Originally published as Why Kade Dykes couldn’t break season-ending news to his parents