Leeds Rhinos’ Brad Dwyer talks of the shock of testing positive for coronavirus
BRAD Dwyer admits a headache left him and Leeds facing even bigger problems – he really had Covid-19.
The Rhinos hooker is currently self-isolating after the shock of his positive test, while two other senior stars – Konrad Hurrell and Bodene Thompson – have to under Track and Trace protocol.
And he has revealed how what he thought was the after-effects of an in-game incident turned out to be something rather more serious.
Dwyer said: “It’s strange – I had a really bad headache.
“I suffered whiplash in the last game I played and thought it was a symptom of that.
“I didn’t really have any other symptoms until the back end of last week when I suffered for two days with really, really bad flu symptoms.
“But it was the headache that was the biggest issue, and a lack of energy.
“If anything its highlighted to me how difficult it’s going to be to control this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not been too serious in my case, it’s just been an illness.
“But it’s how easily it’s spread and can go unseen, it highlights how difficult it will be to control it.
“It was basically like a normal flu case – I then woke up one day feeling better, thankfully.
“Hopefully I’m on the other side of it now and it’s not had too much impact on my body and lungs, there’s only one way to find that out.”
Dwyer, 27, may miss Leeds’ Challenge Cup semi-final with Wigan on Saturday week as he must go through another seven days before he can start playing again.
But he is confident he can come good, thanks to the work Leeds have done.
He added: “It’s been about a week now since I found out I had a positive test.
“I’m not sure where it’s come from and where I’ve caught it from, but from that moment I was isolating straight away.
“If I carry on symptom free and get a negative test, towards the back end of this week I’m allowed to live a normal-ish life.
“It’s then a seven days return to play protocol to go through to make sure everything’s alright with my lungs and heart before I go back to playing rugby.
“The club has been great and there’s been so much work done behind the scenes over the last couple of months.
“Now it’s coming to fruition with my case because it’s not wiped the club out.”