RECOVERING from serious injury can be a long and lonely road, as James Harrison knows all too well.

The dark pre-season mornings working away from the main group can often be as gruelling psychologically as they are physically.

For Harrison, it was particularly tough – joining a new group and stepping up to full-time rugby league for the first time, he arrived at Warrington Wolves with no prospect of stepping onto the pitch until mid-season as he recovered from ACL surgery.

Fortunately for him, however, he was not alone.

Greg Minikin, who joined The Wire at the same time as Harrison, was at a similar stage in his recovery from the very same injury suffered while playing for previous club Hull KR.

Fast forward 12 months and both players are fit and taking a full part in pre-season, with Harrison having just signed a new two-year contract extension after an impressive end to 2022.

Playing the role of injury recoverees this time around are Joe Philbin and Connor Wrench, who are continuing their rehabilitation from ACL injuries of their own.

Harrison outlined the mental and physical process of close to a year’s worth of recovery and explains what it was that pulled him through.

“It’s really tough anyway but one thing I struggled with was coming into a new environment while it was still ongoing,” he said.

“Aside from doing six weeks at Leeds in 2020, I’d never played full-time rugby league before.

“It’s a long process – the first six weeks after you have the operation are the worst.

“You’re on crutches and you can’t really move, so you struggle even with things like going to the toilet or getting a drink of water.

“It’s a nightmare, but once you get moving again and get into your rehab programme, weirdly the time starts to go a little bit quicker.

“I’ve been speaking to Connor Wrench a lot about it as I’m quite close with him. I had Greg Minikin going through the same process alongside me and it makes a massive difference.

“Greg was a huge help for me – he’s a chirpy character and he got me through a lot of dark mornings in rehab.

“Wrenchy has got Philbs (Joe Philbin) in there with him so having that company does make a big difference.”

Philbin suffered his injury against Hull FC in June – the same game in which Harrison made his long-awaited first-team debut.

He started running again last week and is expected to be available in the early stages of the 2023 campaign, but Wrench will have to wait slightly longer.

Having sustained his injury against Toulouse Olympique in August, he is not expected to return until Easter at the earliest.