Niall Huggins has opened up on his recovery from his several injuries that have kept him out of the squad, and now he has his season well underway he hopes to stake his claim on the starting position at the back.
WEIRD INJURIES
“It was such a tough time. It was just weird injuries that aren’t very common. We struggled to find actual answers as to why it was happening, so it was tough mentally. My family and friends were really important, and then your team-mates sticking by you too.”
MENTAL BATTLE
“It’s tough to be in the building sometimes when you’re not part of the wins. It’s quite a conflicting feeling, but you’ve just got to knuckle down through it because there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. After a long time, it feels like I’ve been waiting for this moment I’m at now. Hopefully, I can get a good run of games and show what I can do.”
MOGGA’S WORDS
“I had a chat with the gaffer at the end of last season. I was involved in the two play-off games at the end of the season, and he said he wanted me in the building this year to challenge to get into the team. That was nice to hear. It just gave me that extra burst over the off-season. I had a couple of weeks off, just to reset, and then I think I was in a week or so before the team came back in, and I think it was good for me just to get that first week of running out of the way.”
HARD WORK PAYING OFF
“When I got back into pre-season with the team, I already had that first bit of nagging pain in the legs gone. I think it really helped me coming in early, and then I trained really hard right through pre-season to try to get to where I am now, and I think it’s paying off.”
CIRKIN INJURY
“It’s unfortunate for Dennis. You don’t want to see any of your team-mates go down, but I’ve just had to make sure that I was ready. There were a few parts of last season where we were low on full-backs, but I just had an unfortunate run where when people were out, it could have been my chance, but I just fell short with the injuries."
PUTTING THE INJURIES BEHIND HIM
“It feels really good to be in the position I’m in now. I feel the best I’ve felt in two years. I feel back to how I felt in myself when I first joined the club. I back myself to do a bit of running. It’s probably the fittest I’ve felt in the last two years.”
WORKING WITH CLARKE
“I can either give it to Jack and he can work his magic and do what he does, or if I’m running around him, it either creates some space for him or he can use me if I’m there. It’s been good. We’ve not played a lot of football together over the last two years, so it’s good to learn on the pitch, and I think it’ll just get better as we go on.”
