Before breaking the news to Jamal Fogarty about his knee injury, the Canberra Raiders medical staff offered the halfback a couple of Tim Tams to cheer him up.
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But all he wanted was the news on what turned out to be meniscus damage to his left knee.
The upbeat 28-year-old still has his sights set on making his Raiders debut - albeit a little delayed - and planned to make the No.7 jersey his own on the way to an NRL finals campaign.
Fogarty damaged his meniscus kicking a bomb in the warm up for Canberra's pre-season trial against Manly, but he felt fine to play 60 minutes in a solid start in lime green.
He even posed for pictures with halves partner Jack Wighton for The Canberra Times on Monday morning, unaware of the damage he'd done.
It wasn't until he trained on Monday that he decided to get it scanned when it still felt "crap".
Those scans and a trip to the specialist on Wednesday confirmed the worst - he'll go in for surgery on Thursday and miss about four months of the 2022 campaign.
"During the warm up I was just doing kicks to the boys, I put a bomb up and I just felt a real grindy crunch feeling in my knee and told the physio about it," Fogarty said.
"I got through the warm-up, obviously got through 60 minutes of footy on Friday night.
"Saturday I pulled up a little bit stiff - there was no fluid or anything in there - and came to training Monday and there was a bit of swelling and still felt stiff.
"It didn't free up so I had a chat to the doctor and said, 'It feels crap if I'm honest, can we get a scan?' Then the scans came up with a meniscus issue."
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Everyone you talk to about Fogarty - from the Raiders board to his fellow players - say the same thing about what a cracking bloke he is.
So his positive outlook on the injury front isn't surprising.
He's already focused on making his Green Machine debut and adding to the 41 NRL games he played for the Gold Coast Titans.
And Fogarty especially wanted to add to his one NRL finals appearance at the end of his first season in lime green.
"I rang one of the physios yesterday asking if he's seen my scans and he was like, 'Nah I haven't'," Fogarty said.
"I came in and they were, 'I lied to you, we did see your scans, but we wanted to just make sure you're alright'.
"They offered me a couple of Tim Tams to cheer me up and I was 'I don't need that, just tell me what it is', because there's no point me dragging my feet around bringing the mood down.
"I was really looking forward to playing round one.
"We do such a hard pre-season and then all the football stuff starts and you get all excited.
"This is just a little setback on the road. I've got to rehabilitate it, get strong and then once I'm fit and ready I'll be putting my hand up to make my Raiders debut.
"Once I get that debut I want to keep that jersey and play finals at the end of the year."
As revealed by The Canberra Times, Raiders young gun Brad Schneider will fill the Fogarty void against the Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium on March 11.
Fogarty backed the 21-year-old's defence, which will be tested by a physical Sharks pack.
"The first trial game I thought he controlled it pretty well and the best thing with Schneids is his defence, he doesn't shy away from it, he goes after it and he's a good defender," he said.
NRL ROUND ONE
March 11: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.
David Polkinghorne
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
