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Speaking to the Evening News, Jamie Pitman was hopeful that his dislocating shoulder problems will have been fixed permanently by his summer operation.
"The specialist assured me that if I continue to work hard and do my exercises, then there's a chance that the shoulder won't come out again. I've got to do those exercises through the rest of my career, I understand that and I'm willing to do it if it keeps me playing. I dislocated it about six or seven times last year and it came to the point where it needed doing. I could not go into this new season having the same problem, I would not have been mentally right. When the shoulder dislocates, it does not particularly hurt straight away. It becomes painful the next day or about five or six hours afterwards, it's something I've just got used to. I wanted to play until the end of last season because we were up there challenging for promotion. The gaffer asked me if I could continue and I said `yes' but I got frustrated with it and needed the operation."
Pitman, 29, played through the pain last season to help secure a second successive second place for the Bulls, and had been virtually ever present since his return to the club until the shoulder problems occured.
