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Wayne Smith | April 30, 2009 The Australian
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.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
Awesome news..................mebbe now u guys can leave James Oconnor alone!
Glad to hear he now has a clean bill of health and good luck to him in resuming his football career.
Fingers crossed for him. It would be a major achievement and a hell of an inspiration if he manages it!
I'm please the Brumbies kept him on as a skill kicking coach this year... I’m sure Lealiifano, Toomua and others all benefited from his knowledge. Its great they’re also open open to Hux returning if all the appropriate boxes are ticked... I wish him all the best...
as long as his doctors agree then good luck to him!
Great bloke, was a great/very good player, inspiring determination, but jeez, I dunno.
There's something about it all that just has alarm bells going off for mine.
Sometimes I think you should quit while you are in front, perhaps he needs to have a yarn to the likes of Ben Darwin and Canno.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Its unlikely his brain tumour had anything do with playing rugby and playing rugby in the future is unlikely to induce recurrence of it. As long as he has no actual residual physical damage from it that may lead to other complications, I say good luck to him- especially if like you say it plugs the gap at 15 that O'Connor may otherwise be destined for.
good on him. i hope he does play again.
Wow I hope he gets there. I don't want him to do it if it isn't safe, but I love the impact he would have on so many lives. Every single child who has ever had a cancer or an illness of some description could see Julian Huxley come back and think that simply anything is possible. What an inspiration he would be. I hope he makes it
Good luck Huxley! Lets see you get outscored (not thumped) by the force at MES next year!
A kick in this game is like a rather nasty alcoholic shooter, only as good as it's chaser...
Courtesy of quality South African commentry
fantastic news!
hope he plays and makes an awsome comeback![]()
BOKKE“Let me put it this way, A Springbok team contains Afrikaners, Englishmen, coloureds and blacks. It has parochial foes in Bulls, Sharks, Stormers, Cheetahs and Lions. It is a recipe for war! Yet in all the years of John Smit’s captaincy, there has never been one unhappy customer, not one voice of rebellion against his leadership. He is the glue that holds the Springboks together. The man is a legend!”- Jake White
i hope he gets the all clear. he is such a great player and a real asset to the Brumbies and to the Wallabies
Hux, all the best
Be There. Be Heard. Be The Force Behind The Force