The big bullies of the NRL won’t be able to kick sand in the face of the Storm’s mighty mite Ryan Papenhuyzen any more.
The lightweight Papenhuyzen is one of the most dynamic attacking players in the NRL but when rival forwards got hold of him, he was rag-dolled more than once over the past couple of seasons.
The result was some serious injuries, most notably a series of head knocks that dulled his effectiveness.
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But Papenhuyzen has worked hard in building up his frame over the summer to make himself more resilient and has added ‘three to four’ kilos to his frame.
“I was only around 78.5 kilos last season and that was probably too light in the modern game,” Papenhuyzen told Wide World of Sports.
“Now I am up to 82 and feel better and more confident for it.
“I spent a lot of time in the gym and changed my diet a little and don’t feel like I have lost any pace.
“I really concentrated on improving my back and neck strength because those are the muscles you use a lot to make and break tackles.”
Papenhuyzen says the Storm have a point to prove this year after winning the minor premiership in 2021 but failing to reach the grand final.
“I’m not going to lie – it really hurt us missing the grand final,” he said.
“We saved our worst game for the last game of the season and had to live with that all summer.
“It was a bit of a wake-up call for us all and I think we learned from it as a group -you’ve got to be at your best every week and take every game as it comes.
“What we are trying to do is turn a negative into a positive.”
Papenhuyzen has lent his name to a campaign by home food delivery firm DoorDash to boost touch football.
“I played a lot of touch growing up and there are now over 700,000 registered participants around Australia who don’t get paid – they play for the love of it,” he said.
“So DoorDash has donated $100,000 to a bunch of clubs for uniforms, equipment and the like and I was happy to get involved.”
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