Joe Cator opens up on his injury frustration, Jonny Lomax inspiration and a return target

Hull FC forward Joe Cator of hopeful of being able to hit the ground running at the start of next season as he continues his recovery from the Achilles rupture he suffered in March. After injuring his Achilles for the first time in August last year, Cator made his return to action at Headingley Stadium as took on Leeds Rhinos in round five.

He impressed in the game, too, but his night was brought to an agonisingly premature end as he suffered a reoccurrence of the same injury. Cator went under the knife in the days that followed and he is now almost three months into his recovery.

The loose-forward has a long way to go, of course, and he won’t be seen again this season as he works his way through an arduous rehabilitation process. Cator, though, has his mind set on starring from round one next year.

“It’s slow and steady which is what an Achilles injury is,” the 23-year-old told Sky Sports. “You can’t really skip any phases and you need to make sure everything is right.

“This time around we’re getting plenty of MRI scans along the way just to make sure it’s going right and it’s going smoothly and we’re not guessing through each stage. I’m very confident, hopeful and working hard, harder than I have before, to make sure when I am back, I hit the ground running.

“I’m aiming for round one of next season, I suppose the benefit of the injury and when I had it is that it’s going to be 10 months to round one, so it gives me a lot of time and a full pre-season.”

Recalling the night he suffered the injury for the second time, he added: “It is a pretty tough time to think about. I experienced coming back onto the field and it was a feeling I’d probably never had before because I’d never been out with a long-term injury.

“To come