Sitting on the sidelines is nothing new for Queensland prop Christian Welch, but he's certainly excited to get away from them in 2023.
Welch tore his Achilles in Round 1 last year while playing for Melbourne, ending his season an hour after it began, his third major injury amidst his inspiring NRL journey.
The front-rower has suffered two torn ACL's during his career, one of which just weeks after a 'false alarm' in 2019, a bittersweet moment for the middle forward as he made his Queensland debut only to have his season over weeks later.
The 28 year-old, who's used his time away from playing to do good for the RLPA, is finally back on the training field after eight months of nothingness, however Welch isn't quite back to 100% fitness as of yet.
“I'm back training and slowly integrating into the skills, so all tracking really well for Round 1,” Welch told NRL.com.
“Hopefully by January I'll be full noise.”
Having missed the World Cup following the injury, Welch originally targeted the Grand Final as his return date, however the front-rower was worried about rushing back after his two knee reconstructions.
"I was really hopeful to trying to get back but I think once I accepted that I wouldn't get back we just really slowed it down and focussed on the strength,” Welch revealed.
"Particularly with my injury history, we kind of shut it down after that and just focussed on getting strength and getting ready for Round 1.”
Having returned from an ACL tear to win the 2020 NRL premiership, Welch is no stranger to the big games, although he feared after this setback that there wouldn't be many more ahead.
The Storm farewelled the likes of Brandon Smith, Felise Kaufusi and the Bromwich brothers this season, meaning Welch had to watch his premiership-winning team mates say goodbye to the club whilst he was sidelined.
Despite the gruelling rehab and tough, emotional moments, Welch never considered walking away from the NRL, regardless of how hard or repetitive the process was.
“Obviously there's some pretty down times, but I've had a lot of really good times,” Welch shared.
“I love coming into training with some of the guys. We're lucky we're at a really successful club, won a lot of footy plaques and representative games and those highs, they're pretty amazing,
“With the body, obviously, it's been a bit disappointing sometimes with the injuries, but no, I've never, I've always wanted to keep playing.”
Welch is expected to join the club's leadership group after losing so much experience in the forward pack, and appears set to start in the front-row alongside either Josh King or Nelson Asofa-Solomona as Craig Bellamy chases a 20th consecutive Round 1 victory.
