Gareth Ellis – Glad I did it ... but not sure how long 'comeback' will last!
Hull FC forward and Yorkshire Post columnist Gareth Ellis came out of retirement to help his side to a Golden Point win over Wigan Warriors yesterday - in his 100th appearance for the club.
Gareth Ellis
Published: 22:00 Sunday 24 February 2019
IT WAS great to come out of retirement for Hull FC – I honestly didn't think I would be this time last week!
I had forgotton just how hard rugby league is, though.
I was straight into it all when I came on at Wigan and that's what you want.
It's a tough game played by tough blokes; my contact lens fell out, I got a stinger on my shoulder and clashed heads with Danny Houghton in the space of five minutes! I knew I wouldn't be out there for big minutes but I wanted to ensure there was a little bit of quality when I was.
And what a way to win, too, and end that losing run. In theory I'd love to say now that I'll do it again, but there's a reason I retired.
With 12 months out of the game though, you find the love for the game again sitting and watching it.
There's definitely a spark again; I got a bit nervous initially but then you realise there's thousands of people trying to play Super League and I've got an opportunity to try and do it again and cherish it.
Greth Ellis
But there's definitely a spark again; I got a bit nervous initially but then you realise there's thousands of people trying to play Super League and I've got an opportunity to try and do it again and cherish it.
I've tried to enjoy it, and when you win in the manner we did, it's a great game to be involved in.
It was hard, really hard. It'd have been nice to have some more preparation but the reality was that when Scott (Taylor) got suspended, it made Radders [Hull coach Lee Radford] ask me how I'd been doing.
I said not enough, but I'd put my hand up when needed. It wasn't ideal given how we've got players who could have slotted in, but he just felt that we were in a position where we were desperate and it was the influence that might have made the difference.
I knew after the reserve game last week that Radders was interested. He was telling me I played much better than what I did though!
But I could sense I was going to join in with training. I do that anyway to fill up the numbers, but I've actually been in full training this week and when I got ten minutes into my stint, it clearly wasn't enough! I'll have to see what happens – Monday morning will decide whether I can do it all again.
From being football manager for a year and now going into coaching, you sort of feel like you're getting your place back at Hull FC.
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Then to throw this back in takes that away, and there's a lot to consider. One is whether I can do it for the next few weeks or however long it is, and the other question is: do I want to? Do I want to get back in that grind and routine again? That's another question.
I wanted to do my bit, however short a stint it was, but we had a really good week and there was some excitement leading into this game.
We showed that for the vast majority of the game too.
I thought we played really well. We really deserved it but when you're losing how we have been, you find yourselves in those situations and you have to find a way to win. There was a period just after half-time when I thought we would put a big margin between us, but Wigan are a great team and they got back into it.
To see Wigan level in the last minute and Zak [Hardaker] have a kick to win it, you do wonder. I do think if we'd lost that, it would have taken some getting back from mentally.
It would have been hard work getting them back on it for next week but we didn't lose. We won. Hopefully we can build on it.
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