Guest Column - Chev Walker: Switching back to the pack can be my trump card on return

I'M MILES in front of where we thought I'd be in my rehab.

I'm up and about jogging – albeit very, very slowly – and the fracture is now 95 per cent healed. It's just a matter of the bone getting stronger and I'm not far away.

I don't have an exact date yet but the cage comes off my leg in seven weeks and – because that's helped me do most of my rehab already – it should not be too long after that when I can play again.

I've been totally mobile from the second week after getting out of hospital. Everything's functioning really well with no swelling or pain. I'll just need to get the lungs sorted.

Obviously, it was more frustrating than ever watching the boys play their first Super League game on Sunday. I've had a disastrous couple of years with injuries and been frustrated for a long while now being in and out, in and out.

I'm getting used to the disappointment but still hate sitting in the stands.

As for the performance against Salford on Sunday, we showed some real good glimpses. We took our foot off the pedal a bit but to come away with two points in our first hit-out counts for a lot.

We go to Wigan tonight and they look really well under their new coach.

The lads I know over there speak very highly of Michael Maguire and what he is demanding of them.

It is always a hard place to visit but we did get a good win over there in horrible weather last year.

One of those mates of mine at Wigan is Karl Pryce, who might as well be my twin.

We've pretty mirrored each other for the last two years. He went to union just after I went to union, he came back to league just after I did, we both returned with injuries and have both been in and out of our sides ever since because of those injuries.

It has been uncanny but, hopefully, it will be third year lucky for both of us in 2010. Karl's got a lot to offer. He's an outstanding player and I feel the same about myself. I wish him well, just not tonight.

I've got the No 12 jersey at Rovers this season and will be moving to the back-row from centre.

I'm relishing it. I played a little bit of prop last year which is totally different – either you are cut out for that or you are not, and I am not – but I've played some of the best rugby of my career at back-row; most of the 2003 season with Leeds and also my best international performances have been coming off the bench there.

I've put a decent bit of size and lean mass on this year and am really confident of what I can offer although I know there's a lot of competition at Rovers.

Some people think our coach can be way out there with some of these decisions he makes, like moving Paul Cooke to loose forward on Sunday.

But he probably carried the ball more against Salford than he did in a couple of months last season and it seemed to work for us. Hopefully, me in the back-row can be the same.

Interview with Dave Craven.