Parramatta prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard spent time in hospital just days before a heroic performance against Canterbury on Sunday.
The 29-year-old brought his best form to CommBank Stadium where he ran for 197 metres up the middle, and scored a try in his side’s 30-4 demolition of the Bulldogs.
The true heroics of his outing were not realised until after the game, when coach Brad Arthur revealed an illness had almost prevented the front-rower even making it to the ground.
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“He spent a couple of days in hospital last week, and managed to get himself out on the field to play for us,” Arthur said.
“He knows how important he is to the team.”
Campbell-Gillard has been a consistent performer for the Eels since leaving Penrith in 2019 to join the western Sydney rival.
And while he has represented Australia nine times – including starting in the front row for last year’s victorious World Cup campaign in England – his State of Origin career has failed to get off the ground.
A New South Wales debut in 2018 was followed by a lengthy freezeout, before he played game one of last year’s series and then wasn’t seen again for the series.
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But Blues coach Brad Fittler may have to reconsider his position on Campbell-Gillard if his purple form continues at club level.
“He’s the same for us every week, Reg, he’s reliable,” Arthur said on Sunday.
“It was nice at the end of the game to finish with Reg, Junior (Paulo), Matto (Ryan Matterson), and Laney (Shaun Lane) on the bench and give some other guys some game time.
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“But we can’t just rely on those blokes, everyone else has to step up and get their job done.”
Eels captain Clint Gutherson was also full of praise for the moustached bigman Campbell-Gillard.
“He was probably a little bit disappointed with how he played last week, we always knew he was going to come out and give that type of performance,” Gutherson said.
“You know straight away what kind of game you’re going to get from Reg, when he’s charging into the line like that you know it’s going to be a good one.
“We need him to be like that every single week. When Reg is going forward it gives us a good chance.”
The Eels next play the Broncos in Darwin on Friday.
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