https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/sport/nrl/cowboys/exhausted-before-he-trains-cowboys-centre-justin-oneill-is-taking-the-pandemic-in-his-stride/news-story/3566eefc6e8f026308c6fe1540f77932 BY the time Justin O’Neill is able to start his training for the day he is already exhausted. In years past he would have been on the go — constantly at Cowboys HQ or on the road to his next NRL clash. But now the coronavirus pandemic has forced the North Queensland centre to stay at home, where his two daughters — Kasia and Giselle — work him ragged until they drop. However, in spite of being deprived of rugby league, the veteran of 171 NRL games is loving the challenge. And the feeling is mutual among his youngsters. “I was speaking to Jonny Asiata, who I bumped into when I was going for a run, and we both spoke about how by the time you keep them entertained and they finally go down for a nap you just take a breath,” O’Neill said.
“They’re loving it, they’re too young to understand the whole pandemic thing, so we sort of said everyone has the sniffles and we have to stay at home. “Apart from that they don’t really understand the severity of it and they just think dad’s at home and on holidays again. “It’s actually the first time in a long time that we’ve been able to spend a lot more time with the family. “It has been challenging at times trying to balance time at home with the family and finding some time to train as well off our own bat … but it’s been a nice change.” The 29-year-old had already endured a frustrating 2019 season — the pandemic-enforced postponement of the NRL a culmination of his struggles to get on the field. When he ruptured his spleen against the Canberra Raiders in round 11 last year it wiped out the rest of his campaign. Three blood transfusions and 10 months later, O’Neill lined up for the first game at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, only to be taken off early in the piece with concussion. O’Neill knows how much work went into the pre-season. He knows how much each player had bought into what the Cowboys were hoping to build in 2020. To have that taken away has been difficult to bear, but he said it was important the squad put the situation into context and appreciated the season had not been written off just yet. There was still a goal to work towards. But what frustrated O’Neill the most was the burning question — what could this season have been for North Queensland? “To sort of feel like you’ve accomplished something and you’re ready to put that hard work into action, only to find out you get this setback … for me that was the hardest part,” O’Neill said. “I know I am at the back end of my career, so the disappointing thing would be I was really looking forward to coming back from what happened to me last year. “It leaves a question where I didn’t really get the chance to see (what I could have done) if we don’t play again this year. It leaves a question of how the year could’ve played out. “(But) we have to take it in our stride, it’s bigger than the game – the coronavirus is out there killing people and if we’re not doing the right thing it’s going to be quite serious.”
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AuthorThis section showcases a collection of some of the work I did covering the North Queensland Cowboys - from match reports, to player features to breaking news. Archives
June 2020
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