Promising signs give Hull KR’s Ben Crooks hope of early recovery

Super League’s leading try-scorer is recovering from a bulging disc suffered in the 28-8 defeat against Castleford Tigers on February 27.

Initially, it was feared he would need surgery that would sideline him for six months.

But Crooks’s specialist suggested it could be manageable without an operation and he may be able to return in two months.

The 26-year-old visited him after a fortnight to check on his progress and the former Castleford player is clearly improving.

Crooks told The Yorkshire Post: “I was meant to see the specialist again last week but obviously, because of the circumstances with the coronavirus, I just had to have a phone consultation.

“But everything I told him with regards the range of movement I’ve got back in my neck, it being nowhere near as painful as it was and also the fact I don’t have the numbness in my arm, meant that he was really pleased.

“He wants to get me booked in for another scan to see how it’s developed and improved but it’s hard to get it done with the clinic we normally visit not taking anyone in at the moment.

“You can understand that. We’re waiting to hear back to see if he could get me in over at his clinic at Manchester.

“Once we get some more images of my neck we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at.”

Crooks had scored seven tries in the club’s opening five games when he was struck down in innocuous circumstances.

“It was my last carry in that Cas’ game when I felt a little twinge in my neck,” he recalled.

“I’d had a problem with muscle spasms in my neck the previous couple of weeks and I felt a little crick and thought ‘that hurt!’

“I got on with it and finished the game but once I started settling down afterwards my neck did start really stiffening up and getting more and more painful to move.

“A couple of days later, I said to the physio I’d not been able to sleep and was in all sorts of pain.

“That’s when we went for the scan and it showed a large bulging disc in my neck.

“With how drastic it looked on that scan, that’s why we feared I’d have to have the surgery to have it removed or replaced.

“But the consultant said as bad as it looked on the images, it wasn’t pressing vitally on my spinal chord. He wasn’t too worried about that and he was comfortable with me letting it settle down over time if I was.

“In the initial first couple of weeks we checked and he’s earning his money as he was right! It settled down a lot.”

Meanwhile, former Rovers team-mate Mose Masoe, 30, will continue his rehabilitation from a serious spinal injury at home, as the hospital where he is receiving care needs beds for coronavirus patients.

His career was ended by the injury suffered in a pre-season game with Wakefield in January which left him paralysed.

He had recently started walking with the assistance of parallel bars and is hoping to be able to walk unassisted soon but must leave Pinderfields Hospital so his bed can be reallocated to people taken ill in the pandemic.

Crooks said: “It’s upsetting for him because of the progress he’d been making and that will have to come to a stop for now.

“But he’s that kind of guy who would put others before himself regardless of the situation; he’s done it time and time again.”

All KR’s players and staff are now on furlough leave due to Covid-19 while Hull FC’s game in Toronto on April 18 has officially been postponed.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor