Rising Parramatta Eels hooker Reed Mahoney has endured a typically tough pre-season, and that was even before he set a foot back onto the training paddock.
In the time between his end-of-season representative commitments with the Prime Minister’s XIII side and the Junior Kangaroos, and his club’s pre-season training starting, Mahoney was deep in recovery mode after undergoing surgery in November - a process that saw him lose six kilos.
“I didn’t get to have a holiday!” Mahoney said.
“I had a few rep things on, so it was a bit week-on, week-off for a month or so ... and I actually had surgery.
“I had my tonsils, and my adenoids and sinuses done. I had all that done, so that was quite a frustrating time, I wouldn’t recommend anyone getting their tonsils out.
“I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t breathe.
“That took a couple weeks to get over, and then I was straight back at training.
“But I did get away (home) after Christmas, so that was good.”
The Kawana Dolphins and Beerwah Bulldogs junior is now back training hard and looking to build on the form that earned him a place in the national representative teams.
A full season playing first grade has also armed him with the experience to know what he has to do to look after himself in order to stay on the field.
“It was obviously a pretty happy year with my performance throughout the year, but as a team we probably fell a lot shorter of where we wanted to,” Mahoney said.
“I know the pre-season before that (in 2019), I had to work really hard to get the nine spot for Round 1 and I achieved that goal and every game I tried to be consistent and play my best footy I could.
“My body took a pretty big toll last year, but the staff there are really good at Parra and they look after me and monitor me, but when I am not at training, I have to look after myself.
“And throughout the year, I think I got better as the year went on with my recovery and making sure I was going to be ready for the next week.
“I made sure I was doing extra stuff away from training to make sure I was ready to go each week.
“Doing the little things that all add up and as it comes to game day, I feel confident that my body is going to be fine for the whole match.”
The talented rake, who ended the 2019 season with 26 games and topped the tackle count for the competition with 1221, also impressed State of Origin coach Kevin Walters and was invited to join the Queensland Maroons camp that met up in Brisbane this past weekend.
It was a proud moment for Mahoney that proved he was moving in the right direction.
“I was actually about to do a wrestle session and Brad (Arthur) called me across to sit down with him and he showed me the email and Kevvie called me about an hour later and I didn’t expect it at all, but obviously I was very honoured," Mahoney said.
“I called my parents straight away and obviously it’s only the extended squad, but it was a little achievement of mine... early on in the year that just made me even hungrier to play good footy at my club and the rest will come.”
Mahoney last wore maroon as a member of the Queensland Under 20 team in 2018, which is the only side so far to have claimed the Darren Lockyer Shield from New South Wales.
“I hadn’t really played in a rep team before that and I got to represent Queensland in the 20s and being about to go into camp and play in that was a really big honour for myself and my family," Mahoney said.
“We got the win (for) the first time and it was really great and a few of the boys who were with me in that team are here with me in this squad, so it was a really good time to be able to be a part of that.
I think anything you put on maroon makes you feel good.
Reed Mahoney Queensland Maroons squad member
“Even though it was just the 20s, you felt so honoured to be able to represent the state.
“You don’t realise how much it means to everybody until you are actually in that jersey.
“The older fellas come in to have a chat with you about their experiences playing State of Origin you get goose bumps thinking about it and it was a really good experience.”
