Can you talk us through what happened on Saturday night?

I was trying to come in and tackle Marc Murphy. During the initial hit I felt a snap or crack, pop in my shoulder. I didn’t know if it was me or him. I thought he might have injured himself. As I was running off I felt a bit weird. Came off, did the test with the doctors and found out I had torn my pec muscle.

How painful was it and did you realise you’d done some serious damage?

When I was on the ground I had adrenaline pumping so didn’t feel it very much. Once I got off, Ken Withers our club doctor did the test, then I realised it was a significant injury.

I had no power. I tried to move my arm and it wouldn’t go where I wanted it to go. I knew it wasn’t great and the scans confirmed that the next day.

Were you keen to come back on though?

If Ross (Lyon) needed me to keep playing I would have kept on playing as best I could.

I didn’t have a whole lot of range of motion with one arm, I was trying to the pick ball up with one hand and tackle with one arm. I wasn’t much use to anyone.

 


You had surgery earlier this week, how did that go?

Surgery went really well. The surgeon said because it was such a clean tear it attached back onto the bone really well. He’s pretty optimistic. I could be playing as little as eight weeks away, which gives me some hope I may be playing again this season.

What’s in store for you over the next few days and weeks?

A bit of TLC for me, not doing too much. On the couch watching some Sky Racing, not doing a whole lot for myself. I’m just letting the swelling go down and letting the pain subside. It’s pretty painful at the moment, so I just have to take care of it.

If there is a positive, it’s that you can still run and maintain your fitness?

It’ll be great doing another pre-season, I can’t wait. Club sports science manager Jason Weber will have a schedule for me to start running in the next couple of weeks and keep that fitness base, so I can keep as prime and fit as I can towards the end of the season.

Hawthorn’s Josh Gibson went through a similar injury last year and was out for 10 weeks, are you hoping to be back ready for finals?

Obviously I can’t rush because it’s quite a significant injury. Having the optimism of playing again this year makes it a bit easier. All I can do is tick all the boxes, make sure I’m doing what the doctors tell me to do and give myself the best chance of playing later in the year.

It’s the first long-term injury of your career, is it tough to deal with mentally?

I’m not going to be sooking too much; I know what I have to do to get myself back out there.

In some ways the injury came at a good time because any later in the year and you would’ve been ruled out until next season?

It doesn’t rule out the whole season, so I’m a chance to play this year, which is a bonus for me. Like I said, I have to do everything right to make sure I have the opportunity to play again this year.

How crucial are the club’s fitness and medical staff in a situation like this?

I’ve never experienced a tendon injury before, so I have no idea what the go is with rehabilitation. They’ve got all the experience, they’ve fixed players and got them back up and running quickly. I rest my life in their hands. I’ll do whatever they tell me to do, because they know best. I’ll listen as best I can, even though listening is not my strong point.

You’re known as the club joker and even managed to stir up Zac Clarke while you were in hospital?

Clarkey had a bit of jab at me on Twitter, so I challenged him to a bench press challenge at the club. I’d probably still beat him even with a torn pec!