Not only was the left-back unable to feature in Newcastle's Carabao Cup final success against Liverpool earlier this year after suffering a foot injury, he wasn't even able to attend the game having undergone surgery just a few days earlier.
It was, admits Hall in a candid interview with the Northern Echo, "the worst part" of his career so far.
The season earlier Hall had been on the fringes, a bit-part figure who hardly featured in the first half of the season as he adjusted to life at St James' Park after his move from Chelsea in what was an initial loan that was later turned permanent for £28m.
That was frustrating but at least he was training every day and still felt like a footballer. But the foot problem was the first serious injury he'd ever had to deal with.
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"It was incredibly difficult," he says.
"It was the worst part of my career so far.
"Obviously, I went through a season when I first joined where I didn't get as many minutes as I would have liked. I was working hard on the training pitch and stuff and I found that a bit frustrating, the first half of that season.
"But going through what I went through last season, the back end of it - I would have rather been in that situation again, almost, because I was just missing playing and stuff like that.
"The cup final was one for me that was incredibly hard to take. Even now, although we've won – and I'm obviously buzzing that we've won, I've got my medal and everything, I've contributed – but, at the same time, it still hurts quite a lot seeing that and not being able to be there.
"Not so much not being able to play, but I'd had my surgery literally five days beforehand, so I wasn't able to get to the game and celebrate with the team, which was quite difficult for me, really."
Who did he lean on for support in those difficult times?
"A lot of different people," he says.
"I spent a lot of time with my family back home, which are probably the people that I'd open up to the most. But at the club, we have a psychologist who I used to speak to every week.
"I used to speak to the coaching staff fairly regularly and the players. I tried to keep myself having breakfast and lunch and tried to do everything I could with them, apart from train, to try and keep myself part of the team.
"Everyone there was so good with me and they knew how much it was upsetting me to miss the cup final and things like.
"I had a lot of people that I felt like I could speak to, so that was good."
There is one benefit of an incredibly challenging period like that.
"I think it's made me mentally a lot stronger, which I think anyone who's injured would tell you the same," said Hall.
"It's not easy. You go through phases throughout the rehab process where you'll have a couple of weeks where you're feeling good, positive, and then you'll have a couple of weeks where you feel like you're not making that much progress. I guess it's all just part of the process.
"Now I'm just enjoying every moment as it comes, and I never take anything for granted these days.
"Before I had my foot injury, I had never been injured before, so I've always been training, always been available for games.
"Having that four or five month period where I wasn't able to do that was like something that I struggled with a lot, but I obviously had a lot of support around me.
"So, now – whether it's training, games, or anything like that – I'm just taking each day at a time, and just being grateful for the position I'm in."
And the position Hall is in is back in the England Under-21 squad for their games against Ireland tonight and Slovakia next week, and, after coming off the bench in the weekend defeat to Brentford, back in action for [Newcastle United.](https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastleunited/?ref=ed_direct)
Eddie Howe was understandably patient with Hall, who returned early in the season but then suffered a fresh hamstring setback that resulted in another spell on the sidelines.
But he's fit again now and has his eyes set on playing a starring role for the Magpies, which would give him every chance of being selected in Thomas Tuchel's England squad for next summer's World Cup.
It's a year ago today that Hall made his senior England debut, and with Under-21s boss Lee Carsley this week telling of how highly the left-back is rated by "everyone at the FA", he has every chance of forcing his way into the World Cup squad, providing he can stay fit.
"Talking about the left-back position, in general, for any player who's on any camp, there's still so much time left of the season," said Hall.
"And, to be honest with you, if I can focus on doing what I could do for my club and getting into the form and rhythm that I was in last year, I'd have the confidence in myself and in my ability to get into the squad. That is something that I'm aiming to do.
"But, in the meantime, I'm obviously not looking that far ahead because I'm just looking at what I can do now to get me into that rhythm in the first place.
"It would be amazing to be honest \[to be in the squad\].
"I've obviously had my taste of the senior camp before, so I know sort of how it felt to be there. It's definitely a big goal of mine, and it's something I'd love to do.
"But in the meantime I just need to keep myself fit, keep myself in good condition, find my rhythm again and do what I was doing last year every week."
First he has to get back in the Newcastle team, with now England regular Dan Burn having deputised at left-back.
Hall said: "The rise that Dan Burn has gone on… looking at it from his perspective, he's been doing it for a while and it's sort of taken him to score some big goals and some important games for people to realise the quality of player and how important he is to a team. Sometimes you need them little moments to help spur you on."
Throughout the highs and lows of his time at Newcastle so far, there's been one constant voice of support - that of head coach Eddi Howe.
"Obviously, when I was at Chelsea, I worked under a lot of top managers at the time, but I'd say Eddie's a manager that has taken a lot of stuff from my game and improved it more than I ever thought he could do at this stage in my career, if I'm honest," says Hall.
"The confidence and belief that he's shown in me, especially in the last year or two, I guess at the time it was quite a big price tag for what I'd done in my career so far.
"So for him to have that much confidence in me to be the player that he believes I can be, I’m obviously really grateful for him for that."