Souths Star Discusses Painkiller Side Effects After Bone Removal

Colquhoun fighting to be fit for Vegas | 02:52

Souths star Campbell Graham says he “feels like a footy player again” as he prepares for an NRL return over 500 days in the making.

Watch every game of the 2025 NRL Pre-Season Challenge Live & Exclusive on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

A serious sternum injury has kept Graham out since Round 27, 2023. Even during the entirety of that season, Graham needed 29 painkilling injections to play, according to the SMH.

Graham says he picked up the injury in Round 1 of 2023.

With an off-season to heal the injury, it was expected Graham would be right for the 2024 season, but after a wresting session early last year, the Souths best and fairest winner knew something was still amiss.

Graham told the SMH that specialists said the amount of painkilling injections he took in 2023 may have caused an infection which in turn caused part of his sternum to die.

“They removed the dead bone from my sternum, took a bone graft from my left hip, then put the fresh bone into the sternum, and covered it with a couple of plates,” Graham said.

“There was no blueprint in terms of when I could return. I was hoping I could be back around round 16, but it was up to the surgeon, and he told me when I could run and when I could do weights.”

To play it safe, Souths made the decision to shut Graham down for the entire season and focus on a 2025 return.

It has proven to be the right call, with Graham feeling as fit as he’s been in two years.

“I’ve been doing full contact since November, and I feel like a footy player again,” Graham said.

I pulled up sore, and in a funny way I never realised I would miss that. Just having that contact, you don’t realise how good it is to have the collision.”

The Rabbitohs are widely tipped to bounce back with vigour in 2025 after missing the finals the past two seasons.

Legendary coach Wayne Bennett is back at the helm and in an ominous warning to South Sydney’s NRL rivals, Graham says star fullback Latrell Mitchell is “moving the best I’ve seen him in a pre-season”.

“He’s also leading the best I’ve seen, with his talk and energy, which is exactly what we need heading into this year.”