- A Cronulla Sharks star had been recovering from undergoing shoulder surgery
- The prop had appeared to notice the injury during their preliminary final
It’s been a difficult, and slightly bizarre, off-season for Cronulla Sharks star Toby Rudolf who has been battling his way back from a horror shoulder injury that will see him ruled out of the 2025 NRL season until at least round four.
The 28-year-old enjoyed an excellent season for the Sharks in 2024, making 21 appearances while returning one try.
But his campaign ended on a sour note, with Rudolph appearing to feel a strange sensation in his shoulder during his side’s preliminary final defeat against Penrith.
While he didn’t pay the feeling too much attention at the time, it turned out to be quite a big issue.
‘In the final game against Penrith, I think they scored two or three quick tries. Moses Leota – who runs like a fridge – ran at my right shoulder two or three times,’ he said to NewsWire.
‘On the second or third one, I noticed a bit of pain but I got through the game without a problem.

Toby Rudolf has endured the off-season form hell after the Sharks prop underwent surgery on a shoulder injury

The footy star had first noticed the injury during his side’s preliminary finals defeat vs Penrith
‘Although I never felt it dislocate or sublux, apparently at some stage it did which caused the injury.
‘The only pain I can remember was tackling against that forward pack. Whether it happened then or whether it was an old injury is a head-scratcher.’
While he shrugged the initial feeling off, he would later learn that he needed shoulder reconstruction surgery to remedy the injury, having initially snubbed an opportunity to have a scan on his shoulder during an exit medical.
His shoulder socket was very unstable due to the repeated impacts that he had sustained over the season, with doctors having to perform Latarjet-Bristow surgery, in which part of the bone in his shoulder was transferred from the shoulder blade to the front of the shoulder’s socket.
It left him in rehab for quite a while. But things went from bad to worse for the footy star, who had also battled all season to overcome a torrid blight of turf toe that had threatened to end his career.
In a slightly bizarre twist of circumstances, he was forced to move out of his own home for nearly 10 weeks due to a bout of black mould.
‘It certainly wasn’t ideal because I also had a black mould infestation at my place of residence,’ Rudolf said.
‘I think three days after surgery, I was forced to move out, grab all my clothes and live either at my brother’s or my mum’s house for about 10 weeks.

But in a slightly bizarre twist of circumstances, he was forced to move out of his own home for nearly 10 weeks due to a bout of black mould
‘I’ve only just moved back to my place now so I’ve been cleaning and tidying up things.
‘It was interesting. It was tough, but it was nice to be around family for the times when I was a bit needy and vulnerable.
‘It’s never nice to not have full use of your body, but it’s getting better each week and I’ve got my eye on returning in round two at the very earliest, but that would be cutting it very fine.’
The Sharks prop is, though, making plenty of progress and while he is expecting to miss the opening round of the season in Las Vegas, he is anticipating that he will be fit to play in round four, with Cronulla set to take on the Canterbury Bulldogs.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .