Josh Griffin is targeting a return to competitive action in Round One of the 2022 Betfred Super League season.
The centre has made positive strides towards making a full recovery from an Achilles injury that he suffered at the start of June.
With his sights set firmly on Round One of the 2022 Super League campaign, Griffin has told hullfc.com that fans may even get to see him back in action even earlier.
“Round One’s the target. I’d like to even play a couple of pre-season friendlies to get some match fitness in,” Griffin said.
“Even from the very start, Round One of 2022 has always been my goal and that hasn’t changed to this day.
“I’ve been making good progress with it lately and it was an amazing feeling to be on the field doing some light work with some of the younger boys in week one of pre-season.
“I’m still quite a way off in terms of being a little bit rusty and my timings being out, but that’s what the next few weeks will be for – to help me get those basics back up to scratch.”
The return of Griffin’s team mates to pre-season training will have been a welcome sight for the 31-year-old, who has spent the entire off-season recovering by himself.
“There have been some dark and lonely days where you have a look at yourself in the mirror and start asking questions, but I think it’s been beneficial for me in the long run because I feel mentally stronger now than I was a few months ago,” Griffin explained.
“It’s been my first severe injury and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of working my way back through the rehab phase.
“I did my longest distance of running since getting injured last week and my foot and ankle did swell up quite badly, but I think that’s something I’m just going to have to get used to for the time being.
“That’s going to be part of the challenge – making sure that I can get it ready to go again the next day.
Despite Griffin ticking many of the required boxes in his rehabilitation programme so far, there are still a handful of individual tasks to complete before he can make a full return.
He explained: “I’ll be dipping in and out of training with the boys over the next couple of weeks, but then I’ll be dropping back out and doing my own little thing to focus on feeling right. There’ll be a little bit on the Watt bike and there’s also some more running to do.
“The next goal is to get some high speed and change of direction into it, as well as doing some repeat days.
“I’ve always had a rest day after every high intensity session, so the next challenge is to try and do two consecutive days of that high intensity stuff.”
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