Sharks hooker James Segeyaro has revealed he turned to pilates to help him through his recovery after he broke his arm in the Round 6 win over the Melbourne Storm.
The 26-year-old scored the match-winning try in that game – just his third in Cronulla colours – with his heroics amplified after it was revealed he had done serious damage to his arm that would see him miss three months of football.
While the injury was a huge blow for both Segeyaro and the Sharks, neither party was willing to let the layoff go to waste.
He mightn't have been able to do weights, so Sharks head of performance Andrew Gray decided to send the star rake to Menai where Segeyaro learnt the fine art of pilates in a bid to strengthen the muscles in his legs.
"Andrew Gray decided to send me there because I have weak groins and it's been amazing," Segeyaro said.
"I'd recommend pilates to anyone who's got a weak back or hips or lower-ab problems. It's helped me tremendously and I can feel it in my running because I'm running more freely and not pulling up so much.
"I was pretty much getting flogged twice a week but it was good. I've gotten time to get into pilates which would have helped my groin and my hamstrings because I've got weak hamstrings. That helped my running because I was allowed to work on and get better on something that was my weakness beforehand.
"I sort of had another pre-season within season so it was bad how everything happened in the sense I was out for a few weeks, but it was good in the sense that I could work on things that would make me weak in the big scheme of things."
Segeyaro showed no ill-effects of the injury in atrocious conditions on the Gold Coast last week, and now that he's got some minutes under the belt, the crafty No.9 is keen for more game time.
Named on the bench again for Friday night's clash against the Rabbitohs, Segeyaro said he was ready to play 80 minutes if called upon but was quick to pay tribute to starting hooker Fa'amanu Brown who has filled in admirably with regular No.9 Jayden Brailey out with a badly broken jaw.
"I definitely reckon I could pump out 80 minutes if called upon," Segeyaro said.
"I've done all the training stuff and that game on the weekend gave me a lot of confidence to be able to get through that kind of environment. Although it was a bit slow, it reassured myself that I could play 80 if need be.
"That said, we've got Nu Brown that's been doing a tremendous job as well so whatever 'Flanno' (coach Shane Flanagan) decides to do, I'll back him 100 per cent.
"At the end of the day, that's the long-term goal [to play 80 minutes]. That's the goal that I want to reach in another three weeks or so."
