3 minute read

North Queensland fullback Valentine Holmes will receive painkilling injections for a shoulder injury to play the last four games of the NRL season.

Valentine Holmes will have painkilling injections in his shoulder every game until the end of the NRL season to ensure he finishes 2021 on the best possible note with North Queensland.

The Queensland State of Origin star made his return for the Cowboys in a 36-14 loss to Gold Coast last weekend although he admits he's not 100 per cent recovered from a grade three AC joint injury.

But the alternative is sitting out the final four games of the year, which he's not willing to do.

"I hate sitting out and watching the boys play, I've never really been good at that, I always get itchy feet when I'm watching," he said on Wednesday.

"It would be better if we were winning games, but I'm happy to be back out there."

Just to get from one game to the next Holmes has to ice the shoulder for 24 hours after a match, followed by a rigorous rehab program to keep mobility in the joint.

His contact loads are also being managed through the week at training so he can handle an 80-minute performance on the weekend.

"In a game it's 100 per cent, but that's obviously because it's needled but today at training it's still a bit sore and after games it's pretty sore," he said.

"It's probably not fully healed yet and any kind of contact on it or leaning on it wouldn't be good for it, but a lot of guys have played with an AC problem.

"It's nothing to be worried about or anything, it's coming towards the end of the year where there's just a few games left, so if I can fit out these games, I'll really look after it in the off-season."

Holmes had been sidelined with the injury since Origin III before he returned last weekend against the Titans.

On the back of eight straight losses, the Cowboys need him.

Games against Wests Tigers, Parramatta, St George Illawarra and Manly will round off their season, including Saturday's match at Townsville in front of a home crowd.

"The moment we get our next win hopefully we can build some confidence from that," Holmes said.

"We've been training well each week, we're just not really executing on weekends.

"When we get put under pressure, we're not making the right decisions most of the time so it's always going to hurt us.

"We're very good at not giving ourselves the best opportunities in games; that's one thing we've always spoken about every week in trying to fix."