Hull FC interim head coach Simon Grix has confirmed that young forward Charlie Severs could be forced to consider retirement after another injury incurred to his shoulder.
The 20-year-old from York has played just three times for the Black and Whites and only featured on loan for York Knights a handful of times with shoulder injuries continuing to hamper his development.
Speaking to the press today, Simon Grix has confirmed that the most recent injury will force the second rower to potentially question his future in the sport.
“Charlie’s had a shoulder history, he’s had a couple of shoulder surgeries and injuries and he has unfortunately hurt his shoulder again,” Grix told BBC Humberside.
In a comment that seems to suggest and pre-empt a possible retirement, Grix stated: “As far as I’m aware, it’s not looking great for Charlie in terms of his longer-term health around his shoulder. We only play this game for a period of time and you’ve got a long life to live after it.”
Simon Grix was someone who ultimately had to call time on his career due to constant shoulder injuries, something he would allude to, but the Hull FC coach still got to play out a long career.
That might not be the case for Severs with Grix explaining: “If his shoulder can’t get into the right condition to where he can play rugby on repeat every week and not be struggling with it, then it comes to a time when you’ve got to make that choice.
“I’m not saying he’s going to retire, he might just have a bit of time away and go and try again after he’s built himself back up.
“He’s got other bits going on in his life and as I say, a long life to live after rugby and if his shoulder is not going to get right, speaking from experience, then there are some very tough times if he keeps persisting.”
The news came on the same day when Grix confirmed a season-ending injury for another Hull FC youngster in Davy Litten with the back suffering an issue with his MCL.
Confirming that Litten, who was a try-scorer in FC’s win over Wigan, was ‘running gingerly’ after the game and exhibited soreness in his knee in training on Monday, Grix revealed that an injured MCL was the reason.
“He’s gone straight for a scan, and it looks like he’ll do very well if we see him again this year unfortunately.
“He felt fine to be fair, going for the scan to him was a bit over the top but obviously the test that they did indicate that there was something going on and they were proven right, so fair play to the medical staff for spotting it.”