Brett Ferres ruled out of Leeds Rhinos' season-opener at Warrington Wolves

GRAND FINAL winner Brett Ferres has ruled himself out of Leeds Rhinos' Betfred Super League opener at Warrington Wolves in three days' time.
Brett Ferres.Brett Ferres.
Brett Ferres.

The former England forward has not yet recovered from closed-season surgery and insists he won’t rush back before he’s ready.

“I won’t be fit for the start of the season,” Ferres confirmed. “I am well ahead with my re-hab’, but for me there is no rush at the minute. I just want to get right.

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“Over the last 18 months I’ve pushed everything a little bit too far, so for me it’s probably not worth making the start.I just need to get my body right.”

Ferres played through the pain of a niggling groin injury for much of 2016 and then suffered knee damage midway through last season.

He battled back to feature in the Grand Final win over Castleford Tigers, but confirmed: “I had surgery a month later, on a microfracture in my knee. I’d been waiting for that for quite some time and putting it off to play, as I’d been out for so long.

“I had a couple of operations last year to pretty much bodge it up, take bits out and try and play on, which I did. It worked in that respect, but I don’t think anyone ever saw the best of me last year.”

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Ferres, 31, is under contract at Leeds until the end of 2019.

“I am in a fortunate position,” he said. “My first year was tough for the club and obviously last year was disappointing for me with injury, but I am looking to put that right this year.”

When he does return, Ferres is confident he can reproduce the form which earned him Dream Team selection in 2013.

He insisted: “I’ll be fit and ready to go, I will be where I want to be.

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“I am not rushing it, I am getting right – that’s what I want to do. I have spoken with Gary and Mac [chief executive Gary Hetherington and coach Brian McDermott] about it and the medical staff and they want me fit.

“They want the player they signed and that’s what I’m going to give them.”

Rhinos are less than three weeks away from a World Club Challenge showdown with Melbourne Storm and – at this stage – Ferres reckons he has only an outside chance of being on the plane to Australia.

“If I miss the first month or two months of the season, in the scheme of things it doesn’t matter. I just need to get right, to be the player I was and the player I want to be.

“That’s where I’m at the moment. I am not putting any pressure on myself, I just want to come in, work hard every day and get myself right.”