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Kevin Proctor, pictured with the Titans in 2021, played through the pain barrier of a heavy flu in England because he didn’t want to let his coach down.
Kevin Proctor – the former Kiwis forward sacked by NRL club Gold Coast Titans – says he was struggling to breathe after playing with influenza for his new English Super League club.
Proctor signed a one-year contract with Wakefield Trinity after being sacked last season by the Titans for vaping in a toilet at halftime of a NRL match.
The 33-year-old told League Express he told his coach he was “a bit ill’’ on the eve of a pre-season derby with Featherstone Rovers.
He warned coach Mark Applegarth that “if I wake up tomorrow like this I don’t know how I will play,'” Proctor told League Express.
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“Then I rang him this morning and showed him my face and I looked like s.. and he said I didn’t have to play if I didn’t want to.
“I said ‘give me an hour and I’ll come down, but I felt like s... out there.
“I’m feeling better right now. Just at the start I couldn’t breathe, we had no ball either which didn’t make it any easier, but once we started getting into the groove it was good.”
Proctor started in Wakefield’s front row against a Featherstone side fielding his former Kiwis teammate Elijah Taylor at loose forward.
Taylor scored as second-tier Featherstone raced out to a 12-0 lead, but Wakefield, who included former Warriors and Samoa halfback Mason Lino, showed their class in the second half to win 24-12.
Proctor had 282 NRL games for the Storms and the Titans and earned 22 Kiwis caps between 2012 and 2019.
