Peter Wallace aiming to be fit for season opener

PANTHERS halfback Peter Wallace says he’s aiming to be ready for the season opener as he continues his comeback from a knee injury.

Panthers Peter Wallace training at Pepper Stadium , Penrith as he battles to return from an ACL injury in a bid to be fit for round 1 .Picture Gregg Porteous

RUGBY league gives, and rugby league takes away.

Just hours after news emerged young Gold Coast halfback Kane Elgey had ruptured his ACL and would miss the season, Penrith’s Peter Wallace put his own knee through its first real test on a wet and windy afternoon at the foot of the mountains.

Wallace opened up about his injury battles last season, when he struggled to do the simplest of things like chase his young daughter around the backyard.

Wallace ruptured his ACL in 2014, but he struggled to make a full recovery from the surgery before his right knee finally blew out again in round 20 last year.

Having to start the long road to recovery for a second straight year had the tough Penrith No. 7 briefly toying with the idea of quitting rugby league.

But if there was one positive from the latest surgery, it’s the fact Wallace can now move better than ever.

Wallace joined his teammates for his first full field session in the best sign yet he’ll be ready for the club’s NRL season opener.

The 30-year-old also labelled a pre-Christmas report about him bailing on the final year of his Panthers’ deal to play in the Super League as ‘’bulls. t’’, and his relationship with new coach Anthony Griffin — the same man who punted him from Brisbane — as fine.

“My goal was to be ready for full training come January, so that’s the first one ticked off,’’ Wallace told The Daily Telegraph.

“I really battled with the knee last year, and it never came right. It was a week to week thing just to get on the training field let alone play games.

“This year I haven’t had to ice after every session, I can put the feet up when I get home and run around after my little girl, which I couldn’t do last year.

“It was terrible. If I had got through the year without injury, there’s every chance (the knee) could have gone in the pre-season — I wouldn’t have got through this pre-season the way it was.

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Wallace says their will be no friction between him and Anthony Griffin.

“But this time around it has been great. I’m excited about the year to come, and being able to play to my full potential.’’

Like plenty of his mates at the foot of the mountains, Wallace would love to have an injury-free season and the chance to produce his best, especially with the one season left on his deal.

Wallace made it clear he was never going to ditch the club this season for a move to England, which was reported last month, and quickly shot down by Penrith supremo Phil Gould.

“There was no substance to it, and the first I knew about it was when my mate texted me,’’ Wallace said.

“I’m off contract this year, and I’m focused on getting back on the field, and if I play well my future will look after itself, wherever that takes me.

“There’s no animosity between me (and Griffin).

“He had to make a tough call (at Brisbane), nobody likes getting the arse, but I got to come home and captain the club I grew up wanting to play for. Although it was all doom and gloom at the time, it’s worked out pretty well.’’

Originally published as Peter Wallace aiming to be fit for season opener