Gareth Ellis - ‘My eye socket went straight into the top of his head’

SO, my comeback game after eight weeks out saw me end up with 40 stitches, two facial wounds, one that went through to the bone and a trip to A&E until 2am Saturday morning.
The damage done to Gareth Ellis.The damage done to Gareth Ellis.
The damage done to Gareth Ellis.
Read More
READ MORE - Dave Craven’s report from the KCOM Stadium

Things didn’t go great against St Helens on Friday for me or the team.

It’s funny as it was actually our captain Danny Houghton’s head that did all the damage.

Yorkshire Post columnsit Gareth Ellis (Picture: PA)Yorkshire Post columnsit Gareth Ellis (Picture: PA)
Yorkshire Post columnsit Gareth Ellis (Picture: PA)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He just got a bit in front of me, Junior Paulo went in between us, he kept swinging around on the left-hand side and I went swinging from the right.

My eye socket went straight into the top of his head so I came away with about 40 stitches – including some internal ones – and he had three butterfly stitches on the top of his head. I think I came off worse.

I ended up getting stitched by the facial surgeons in A&E which is an interesting place on a Friday night in Hull at 11pm and moving into the early hours...

I’ve got one wound just below my eye, sort of on my cheekbone, and then one right on the top of the eye socket.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That was the one that was right to the bone; I could see it coming through.

It was interesting. The rugby league gods are testing me!

Mint (Houghton) actually texted me Saturday morning saying he just wanted to make sure I was all right and how he didn’t want to be the one who made me not want to play next year! I told him not to worry as I’ve given out my fair share of friendly fire over the years so what goes around comes around.

When I came off my initial thought was to get the doc to stitch them up and get back out on the field. But with the impact I’d had and going right through to the bone, I think he was a little worried about a possible fracture on my eye socket or cheekbone.

He was a bit reluctant to stitch it up there and then. If it had been a fracture, more than likely they’d have had to operate and put a plate in.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The doctor has to stay around for the game so I had a patched-up job – a bit of an eye patch on to cover both wounds – and that meant I could at least watch the match with one eye if not two.

He then took me to A&E and you get ushered through and sorted out fairly quickly.

My wife was there with the kids so she had to bring my mum, sister and the children home while my dad had to hang around with the physio. It was a late one.

We play London Broncos on Thursday and I do hope to play.

Because I ended up getting sorted out by the Maxillofacial surgeon – the people that deal with facial cancers and those patients who need their faces rebuilding – it means it’s actually a really good job.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If it starts to heal and it doesn’t feel like it’s pulling or ripping apart there is a chance I could be right for Thursday.

It all depends. I do really want to play as I need to get the minutes under my belt.

It was tough going having so many weeks off and then playing Friday. The scoreline was disappointing but one silver lining for me was to get some match-fitness back. Yet, unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to do that either.

I can’t really afford to miss any games unnecessarily so if there’s any chance of getting out there against London it’d be big for me going forward.