South Sydney captain Greg Inglis has revealed he has been carrying a significant shoulder and neck injury dating back to last season, criticising the fat-shamers for their unwarranted pre-season attack.
Inglis has been the club's medical team's number one patient, with the shoulder, neck and chronic knee issues disrupting a turbulent pre-season that also saw him face a drink-driving charge in November.
But the Rabbitohs leader hasn't felt the need to share his health issues until he was hammered for supposedly being 15kg overweight - allegations to which he strongly denies.
‘’I’ve been carrying a right shoulder injury that happened pretty much around round six or seven (last year), but when it really started was the Charity Shield,’’ Inglis told Fox Sports' League Life.
‘’On the bus ride up I had a bulging disc in my C-6, C-7 (verterbrae) in the neck and I had a chat with James Graham about it. There’s a scar (on my neck) but no one knew about it.
‘’I just want to go out there and do the best for my team, I don’t really show any signs of weakness, that’s just the character that I am and the player that I am. At the end of the day I’m just too stubborn.’’
Greg Inglis has revealed horrific pictures of his surgery and levelled back at those who fat-shamed him
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Inglis admits he has packed on a few more kilograms, but only to climb back to his normal weight.
Throughout his career, the Queensland skipper has hit the scales at the 108kg mark - a weight he is more than comfortable with - which is why trimming down to 98kg in 2018 was hard to adjust to.
‘’People just don’t get their facts right and that’s what makes me laugh about it,’’ he said.
‘’They say I’m 15kg, then 18kg, then 25kg overweight – I don’t know where it’s coming from but I just laughed it off.
‘’It does get you down after a few weeks with people walking around and saying ‘I wish I was 15kg overweight and looking like you’.
‘’It is fat-shaming and I don’t appreciate it whatsoever, but there’s always going to be people out there who are going to have an opinion on you. I have no problems with people coming at me or attacking me, but once they attack my family or my personal life, that’s when I get my back up.’’
The overweight rumours led the critics to connect the dots to his premature retirement, announcing in January his plans to hang up the boots from representative football in 2019 and the NRL the following season.
Having left home to pursue a professional career at the age of 15, Inglis said the decision was motivated by a desire to be spend more time with his relatives in Kempsey.
‘’I decided to retire when I went back home,’’ he said.
‘’It was playing on my mind a bit after the drink-driving incident, but even before than I went on a trip to Bali and coming back I just went home to see my Nan and Pop.
‘’I got told about my Pop having signs of dementia and I thought it was about time that I spent time back home with my family and just make sure I’d be around for them.
‘’In saying that, my Pop is all clear but there is another thing happening at the moment with my Nan where she might have early signs of it as well.
‘’That made my decision quite clear and once I told Dad, my close friends and family it just came easy and clear. Once my mind is clear then I know where I’m going and what’s ahead of me and that is pretty much why I called it quits last year.’’
Asked if his fullback days were over, the 32-year-old said he planned on making a comeback in the No.1 jumper later in the year.
‘’I don’t think they are,’’ he said.
‘’I think it’s a conversation we have to have around Origin time on whether I go back there.
‘’At the end of the day, I know it has only been one game, but Alex Johnston has proven he is a great fullback, and last year as well.
‘’It’s something we need to talk about with Wayne and Alex Johnston himself.''
