Dewsbury Rams were delighted to see Liam Johnson make his debut performance against the Bradford Bulls last Sunday.
Johnson has been out the whole season with a ruptured Achilles which happened back in December of 2018 just after he had signed for the club.
Johnson has worked hard on his fitness in both the gym and recovery to get back as soon as possible, and he has been able to join up with the rest of the group in the final stages of the season and now has played his first game for the club.
On that recovery process and hard fought path to getting back on the pitch, Johnson said: “It’s been a very long and tough season for me after rupturing my Achilles in December, so to finally get on the field was huge for me. I’ve been working really hard and pushing myself and had a lot of support from the back room staff and to see it all pay off and get on the field is massive.
“It was a proud moment for myself after working so hard throughout my injury. To finally debut and play alongside the lads was a good feeling even if we were on the wrong side of the result.”
Johnson admits that whilst he has been sat on the sidelines for most of the year, there is a lot to take away from the season and go into the next campaign with.
He commented: “There’s a lot to learn from this year, watching from the side line for the majority of the season it’s hard to talk much around performances but we have shown we can go toe to toe with the big teams and get results.
“I think it’s massive we take that into next year, when we’re on our game we are capable of beating anyone in this league.”
For Johnson the year of 2019 hasn’t really felt like a proper campaign. He is now chomping at the bit for 2020 to come around.
He said: “Yes, it’s basically been a pre-season all season for me, I’m over the moon I’ve managed to catch the back end of the campaign but there’s only a few games left so I’m looking forward to getting another pre-season under my belt and kicking on to next year.”
Finally Johnson spoke about the final two games for the Rams. Dewsbury head to Toulouse in a week’s time and then face Widnes on the final day. He believes the Rams can get a result from both the remaining fixtures.
He said: “We need to aim to perform well and I don’t think getting the two results is out of the question. If we go well in the last two fixtures we can take that confidence from that and take it into next year. I think we owe the Dewsbury fans something too, we’ve been on the end of a few disappointing results lately so finishing on a high for them would be good.
“Toulouse is a tough place to go but it’s been shown they can be beaten. The Widnes game is the last fixture of the year and we’re at home so I’m sure the boys will want to finish on a high and give the fans something to smile about.”
