By: Riley Pollock – 05.02.25
It was a long road back to health for Robert Hudson, but now he seems to have picked up where he left off.
Hudson, now in his second year with the Riggers, suffered a shoulder injury late last season that caused him to miss the World Box Championships with Team Ireland, training camp and the start of the Roughnecks season.
He says it was tough to be on the sidelines but he feels nearly 100% now that he has a couple of games under his belt.
“It’s been a long process,” he explained. “It’s been good back playing with the guys, it has given me a lot of confidence. Coming back from an injury like that is pretty mental, so I’ve just tried to go out and have fun. It has felt good.”
The four-year NLL veteran says that it may have taken a couple games to get used to a few new faces on the back end and in goal, but he did all he could to make the transition easier.
“You get to know everyone off the floor first when you’re out like that,” said Hudson. “We had a lot of off floor talks and activities to help us get to know each other so I think that helped us out.”
Hudson found the back of the net for the first time against Ottawa last weekend. It may have been an empty-netter but he had to work hard to get to the net on the play and says it should give him more confidence moving forward.
“I forced it a little bit but it felt good to get on the scoresheet and get the monkey off my back,” he said with a laugh. “I really wanted to get one and get the first one out of the way. It doesn’t really matter how they come, it gives you a little bit of confidence moving forward but hopefully a goalie can be in the net on the next one.”
The Riggers will look to avenge a 14-10 loss to the Warriors in Week 5 when they head to Vancouver on Friday night for an 8 p.m. MT start.
Hudson says the little things will make all the difference between a win and a loss.
“We need to play desperate like we have been, especially in the Georgia game and last weekend in Ottawa, “said Hudson. “We were playing desperate, playing hungry and stuck to our game. If we do the little things for each other I think we will end up in a good spot on Friday.”
