ACT Brumbies back Julian Huxley's bid to play after brain surgery
Wayne Smith | April 30, 2009 The Australian
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WALLABIES World Cup fullback Julian Huxley wants to make a Super 14 comeback for the Brumbies, barely a year after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour.
Huxley, the Brumbies skills and kicking coach, remains on the club's active player list despite not having played since the tumour was discovered after he went into convulsions when he fell off a seemingly innocuous tackle on Queensland Reds second-rower James Horwill in March last year.
The discovery turned his life upside down. Overnight, the nine-Test fullback went from being a pivotal player in the Brumbies side to being a patient caught in the maw of the Sydney medical system.
He underwent surgery to remove the tumour and then was subjected to a follow-up course of radiation. But even during the radiation treatment he continued to train, intent on one day resuming his career as a professional rugby player.
It was the attitude that he adopted from day one, never feeling sorry for himself and determined to stare down the condition that threatened to kill him. Now, at 29 and having received a clean bill of health from his doctors, Huxley faces a new challenge: convincing rugby authorities to re-admit him to the game.
"Julian has indicated he is feeling a lot better and wishes to explore the option of playing again," Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said yesterday.
"We want what's best for Julian. If that's what he wishes, we're happy to assist him in pursuing it."
The Brumbies have referred the matter to senior Australian Rugby Union manager Peter Friend, who is investigating what requirements Huxley needs to meet before the ARU is satisfied it is safe for him to resume one of the most physically demanding and violent of sports.
"Legally and medically, there aren't many precedents of people returning to professional football after undergoing brain surgery," Fagan said. "There is not any significant history of players coming back from that sort of treatment.
"We're working through all this to see what sort of clearance is needed to establish that he is at no greater risk than any other player. But the positive thing is that Julian is feeling fit and healthy."
The Brumbies would love nothing better than to have Huxley cleared to play on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, ironically against his old team, the Reds, after a season-ending injury to Christian Lealiifano has forced the ACT coach to entrust the five-eighth duties to 19-year-old Matt Toomua.
But Fagan made it clear there was no chance of Huxley pulling on the Brumbies jersey this season. "I don't expect it's something you resolve in a month," he said. "Over the course of the next month we'll understand what the process is. This is, after all, slightly more complex than a player merely returning from injury."
Meanwhile, the Brumbies believe they are "getting closer" to completing the deal to retain Test flanker George Smith. At one stage it seemed the 96-Test veteran would be ready to recommit before the Reds match but indications now are that there will be no decision before next week.
Either way, Reds coach Phil Mooney has a problem. His own openside flanker Poutasi Luafutu, while in outstanding form as he demonstrated against the Blues in Albany last weekend, is not a hard-at-the-ball scavenger equipped to go head-to-head with Smith at the breakdown.
"He (Luafutu) is a bigger opensider, about 110kg, so he's very hard to move when he's over the footy," Mooney said. "He can have a real influence at the breakdown and that's what we're looking for him to do. But whether he can beat George to the footy, that's another thing, so it's how we best engage George to nullify him. We have to be smart in the way we engage him and we're looking at how we do that."
Everyone from All Blacks coach Graham Henry to Springboks boss Pieter de Villiers will be watching with interest because it's fairly clear they haven't found a way to nullify Smith.
The Reds yesterday made only one change to the side that so heroically won back respect in Albany, with Test winger Peter Hynes making a timely return from injury in place of teenage flyer Luke Morahan whose season ended against the Blues with a dislocated shoulder that required surgery.
The Reds, meanwhile, yesterday secured the vital signatures on new contracts from former Test loosehead Greg Holmes and his fast-rising understudy Ben Daley.
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