The Brisbane rugby community is rallying around Norths winger Jordan Luke as he deals with losing the full functionality of his right arm in a career-ending injury.
Luke’s persona as one of the most respected and best-loved players at the club has made the news even harder to digest for family, friends and clubmates.
It has also stirred a major outpouring of support for the #FillTheHill rallying cry to spur a major crowd turnout at Courtney Field for Saturday’s game against Wests.
A GoFundMe page has been organised while more traditional fundraising through auction items and raffle prizes will spur the crowd to donate towards medical expenses and adaptive equipment at the StoreLocal Hospital Cup match.
“Jordan is a special member of the Norths community. I made him captain at the start of the season. You talk about club loyalty and that’s Jordan,” Premier Grade coach Dan Ritchie said.
“As a winger, you knew you’d always get strong, fast, rugby smarts and a knack for a try.
“It breaks everyone’s heart to see him in this situation but we all know resilience is one of his other traits. He understands he’s in for a fight but Norths will be with him.”
Luke, 30, sustained major damage to the nerve system that controls his right shoulder and arm function when making a tackle after a high-ball chase against the University of Queensland on June 15.
Nearly a month later and he can’t lift his right wrist or roll his hand but he can squeeze a ball a little to build some strength and co-ordination.
“Time will tell how much movement I get back as some of the nerves repair. It’s a waiting game,” Luke said.
“I’ve replayed the moment 1000 times and watched it back just today. I’ve done the same thing 100 times going into a tackle like that with some momentum to try to get the ball back and you can’t explain why it turned out differently this time.”
Luke is keeping his mind busy doing some game analysis for Ritchie and helping Colts with their backline play.
The Perth product from the Wests Scarborough club played in the National Rugby Championship for Perth Spirit and Brisbane City. Training full-time in the Western Force squad in 2020 was a career-high before returning to Brisbane.
He has always been focussed on his rugby, working at a truck dealership and being an engaging group fitness instructor.
Since the extent of his injury went public, he has been bowled over by the outpourings from rugby friends and other clubs across Brisbane.
“When you play, you never think it’s going to be you that something like this happens to. The messages of support and the concern people are showing has been a bit overwhelming. I’m very grateful,” the humble Luke said.
“It’s typical of the Norths community. They’ve offer me help in all sorts of ways since I came over from Perth and I just love the club for it.
“I’ve made lifelong friends here.
“It’s going to be a good Saturday because we’re celebrating 100 first grade games for ‘Fitzy’ (Kieran Fitzgibbon).”
The Brisbane rugby community will be out in force to show support for Jordan Luke.
