As the 2022 AFL season came to an end, many players have embarked on holidays and pre-season celebrations before preparations for the following season begins. However, among these players, there is an unfortunate minority who are less likely to celebrate the end of the season: Those who are injured.
In a modern-day AFL environment, injuries have become a more significant factor for list managers to consider when deciding on whether to recruit or keep a player on a team’s list. This beg’s the question of whether teams will take a chance on previously injured players.
Injuries in any sport can shape a season, career, and franchise. Former Swans player, Alex Johnson, believes he sees the AFL moving towards the US-sporting standard when it comes to decisions on injured players.
“It’s something that has been trending towards American sports with more trades and player and coach movement between teams. The idea behind one-club players and loyalty has definitely shifted over the last few years, and that has impacted holding onto players that have long term injuries,” he tells upstart.
Talent manager at Hemisphere management group, Tom Seccull also says that the injury history of a player is becoming increasingly important in making list-management decisions.
“Not only does it take away the player’s ability to perform their job, but it can also severely hamper any potential future they may or may not have,” he tells upstart.
Despite this, there are countless stories of AFL players who have defied the odds and returned to the field after significant injuries. However, not even one of the most inspiring modern-day AFL stories had a happy ending, with Alex Johnson’s games tally only lasting 47 games. A Sydney Swans premiership player, Johnson had his career derailed by six ACL injuries, and another, post-career, for good measure.
“Celebrating that 2012 premiership, I definitely didn’t think that would be my last game for six years,” he tells upstart.
In those following six years, Johnson suffered six anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures, and only managed an additional two AFL games, both coming in 2018.
“I thought I’d go on to play 300 games and play in another two or three winning premierships, that was the idea I had planned out for me a 20-year-old kid but sometimes things don’t work out like that,” he says.
Johnson’s first ACL injury occurred one week after his 21st birthday in a 2013 pre-season match against the Gold Coast Suns, which ended his third season before it had even begun. The following four and a half seasons followed a similar pattern, where months of gruelling rehab turned into years, and his singular ACL setback turned into multiple.
Johnson said his role in the 2012 premiership spurred him on in those years in the footballing wilderness and gave him all the self-assuredness he needed.
“I knew I could compete at the level. I knew I held my own on that grand final day … that gave me a hell of a lot of confidence going forward to get back and actually play,” he says.
Unfortunately for Johnson, his sixth ACL injury occurred in just his second game back, ultimately ending his AFL career after he was delisted at the end of the 2018 season.
“I was extremely lucky to get looked after by the Swans for a period of 5.5 years without playing a game. I tried to add as much value off the ground as I could to make it worthwhile for them to keep me,” he says.
Johnson even admitted that comeback stories such as his own may be a thing of the past as clubs start to look at players on a less personal basis.
“It has become more of a business over the last few years, and each player is an asset if they’re on the park playing, if they’re not then their value has to be questioned and therefore potentially let go,” he says.
Talent manager Seccull has seen many examples of this play out on several occasions in recent years, this includes Carlton defender Oscar McDonald, who sustained a back injury this year.
“As a rookie selection, there were no guarantees on Oscar’s long-term security on Carlton’s list and unfortunately his injury added another layer to their decision to ultimately not offer him a contract for 2023,” he tells upstart.
Perhaps even more harshly, Seccull says he has even seen clubs bypass drafting players as young as 18-year-old due to injury, including now Western Bulldogs forward, Riley Garcia.
“Riley Garcia tore his ACL during the AFL U18 National Championships in his draft year which severely hampered his draft chances with many clubs,” he says.
“There were already some question marks on his ability to compete at the next level, only being 177cm [tall], but adding a significant knee injury meant he was too much of a risk for some clubs.”
Luckily for Garcia, he was still granted an opportunity at AFL level when the Western Bulldogs drafted him in 2019. However, the risk of re-injury always poses a risk for clubs, which is something former Swan Alex Johnson knows all too well.
“List management has become more ruthless and therefore the stories of long term injured players having the ability and opportunity to return might be a thing of the past.”
Author| Lincoln Allan is a third year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sport Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter @lincolnpallan
Photo| Shiel Injury by flickerd is available HERE and used under a creative commons license. The photo has not been modified.
