It wasn’t long ago that Hull’s Joe Cator felt walking his dogs and turning out for his old amateur club might be progress - or even as good as it gets.
After twice rupturing the same Achilles and spending 18 months crocked, it’s understandable why the combative loose forward didn’t set himself any lofty targets. He initially snapped his Achilles against former club Hull KR in August 2021. Cator, 25, returned at Leeds seven months later - only to cruelly suffer a recurrence less than an hour into his comeback.
The anguish in his face was plain to see as it dawned on him he was back to square one, a crushing blow that completely wrote off another season. Indeed, the surgeon who operated on Cator’s Achilles said it was the first time in his 25-year career that he’d seen anyone re-rupture it. But, thankfully, the popular player has brilliantly bounced back from his horrific run of bad luck.
