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What this star Dog thought when injury struck, and when he could be back
Bulldogs star Sam Darcy chats to AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey about his knee injury, and when he could make his return
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SAM DARCY was already thinking about ways he would spend the rest of this year, the university work he could dive into and the other methods to build his game off the field.
The budding Western Bulldogs superstar had resigned himself to missing the rest of this year when his knee buckled against St Kilda in round six and he was told it was likely a season-ending ACL injury.
But after a whirlwind few days that saw the dominant young forward go from a full 12 months on the sidelines, to then surgery and a long-term, unknown absence to avoiding surgery and eyeing a return in June, Darcy is now well and truly on the chase of a return.
"Right now they have me listed at six to 10 weeks, so it's still a pretty wide range but it's tracking well so we'll see how it goes. The plan is to start running in a week or two on the AlterG and I'll take it day by day and get some range back in the knee," Darcy told AFL.com.au this week.
"When you get an injury you have to try to take some positives out of it and it's a good opportunity to put on some muscle in my upper body. Then I've just been spending heaps of time to build back up – I was in a brace for a week and on crutches so you lose a bit of quad (muscle) and I've been trying to get those muscles back around my leg.
"I've been working closely with all the high performance staff to add volume in my upper leg weights and on my days off am swimming laps out in the ocean and in the pool and been on the bike recently as well. I'm still in at the club and still flat out with lots of little things I can do and stay working with coaches."
The whirlwind of Darcy's injury against the Saints was the one-in-a-thousand case that has the Bulldogs confident the 21-year-old can make a big impact in the second half of the year.
After the marking contest that saw him hyperextend his knee and then head off the ground to the changerooms, within minutes Darcy knew the reaction wasn't good.
"I saw them doing the test and they had this pale look on their face. I said 'What's wrong?' and they said 'Oh, your knee is really loose and mobile and that's normally a sign your ACL is not intact'," he said.
"Initially there was a bit of shock. I probably didn't think too much of it when I went down and went into the rooms I was in a bit of pain but it was definitely when (club doctor) Gary Zimmerman said 'We reckon you've done your ACL' after doing those tests.
"They never really got them wrong so I was pretty emotional initially in the rooms but I had to put on a brave face and get back out there and support the guys for the rest of the game.
"I was preparing myself to get the worst news the next day. I was pretty relieved when I got the call that I hadn't done the ACL and I had a chance of coming back and playing some footy this year."
Darcy spent the rest of that game on the Dogs' interchange bench remaining blank faced but with thoughts rushing through his head. His ascent to be one of the game's best players – let alone forwards – had been evident in the first five games of the season, having booted 14 goals, and his extraordinary height, reach and skills confounding opponents. But for a brief period a year on the sidelines loomed and he recognised the gravity of the potential injury – and interest in him – in the days that followed.
"We are going pretty well as a team so your mind just goes to disappointment and it never probably fully sinks in instantly. I'm a competitive person and I love playing footy every week with my teammates so the possibility of not playing the rest of the year was heartbreaking," Darcy said.
"It was getting prepared for that and thinking about different avenues I could have explored if that was the case, like trying to look at things outside of footy that could have kept me busy. I was talking with family that night about things I could explore with study or different ways to be really efficient and do what I could to attack my rehab."
The excitement rose further when the 34-gamer was informed he wouldn't need surgery, cutting the injury timeframe down once more.
"I couldn't believe it. It was great news. I wanted to get real clarity around what exactly the injury was and then I switched my mind to just getting it right as soon as possible and trying to get back out on the park when available," he said.
That relief was similar across the Whitten Oval. The Bulldogs have started the season well and are percentage off fourth on the ladder, but Darcy is their forward ace. They have averaged 124 points a game in the three matches he has been absent (including the match against the Saints after his early substitution) but Darcy is central to their aspirations – and his aspirations are to be back inside 50 as soon as possible.
"As tough as it is watching it, it makes it easier when you see the team having a really good month and the team seems to be working really well together and firing. You want to give back and be amongst it," he said.
Bulldogs star Sam Darcy chats to AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey about his knee injury, and when he could make his return
image.png
SAM DARCY was already thinking about ways he would spend the rest of this year, the university work he could dive into and the other methods to build his game off the field.
The budding Western Bulldogs superstar had resigned himself to missing the rest of this year when his knee buckled against St Kilda in round six and he was told it was likely a season-ending ACL injury.
But after a whirlwind few days that saw the dominant young forward go from a full 12 months on the sidelines, to then surgery and a long-term, unknown absence to avoiding surgery and eyeing a return in June, Darcy is now well and truly on the chase of a return.
"Right now they have me listed at six to 10 weeks, so it's still a pretty wide range but it's tracking well so we'll see how it goes. The plan is to start running in a week or two on the AlterG and I'll take it day by day and get some range back in the knee," Darcy told AFL.com.au this week.
"When you get an injury you have to try to take some positives out of it and it's a good opportunity to put on some muscle in my upper body. Then I've just been spending heaps of time to build back up – I was in a brace for a week and on crutches so you lose a bit of quad (muscle) and I've been trying to get those muscles back around my leg.
"I've been working closely with all the high performance staff to add volume in my upper leg weights and on my days off am swimming laps out in the ocean and in the pool and been on the bike recently as well. I'm still in at the club and still flat out with lots of little things I can do and stay working with coaches."
The whirlwind of Darcy's injury against the Saints was the one-in-a-thousand case that has the Bulldogs confident the 21-year-old can make a big impact in the second half of the year.
After the marking contest that saw him hyperextend his knee and then head off the ground to the changerooms, within minutes Darcy knew the reaction wasn't good.
"I saw them doing the test and they had this pale look on their face. I said 'What's wrong?' and they said 'Oh, your knee is really loose and mobile and that's normally a sign your ACL is not intact'," he said.
"Initially there was a bit of shock. I probably didn't think too much of it when I went down and went into the rooms I was in a bit of pain but it was definitely when (club doctor) Gary Zimmerman said 'We reckon you've done your ACL' after doing those tests.
"They never really got them wrong so I was pretty emotional initially in the rooms but I had to put on a brave face and get back out there and support the guys for the rest of the game.
"I was preparing myself to get the worst news the next day. I was pretty relieved when I got the call that I hadn't done the ACL and I had a chance of coming back and playing some footy this year."
Darcy spent the rest of that game on the Dogs' interchange bench remaining blank faced but with thoughts rushing through his head. His ascent to be one of the game's best players – let alone forwards – had been evident in the first five games of the season, having booted 14 goals, and his extraordinary height, reach and skills confounding opponents. But for a brief period a year on the sidelines loomed and he recognised the gravity of the potential injury – and interest in him – in the days that followed.
"We are going pretty well as a team so your mind just goes to disappointment and it never probably fully sinks in instantly. I'm a competitive person and I love playing footy every week with my teammates so the possibility of not playing the rest of the year was heartbreaking," Darcy said.
"It was getting prepared for that and thinking about different avenues I could have explored if that was the case, like trying to look at things outside of footy that could have kept me busy. I was talking with family that night about things I could explore with study or different ways to be really efficient and do what I could to attack my rehab."
The excitement rose further when the 34-gamer was informed he wouldn't need surgery, cutting the injury timeframe down once more.
"I couldn't believe it. It was great news. I wanted to get real clarity around what exactly the injury was and then I switched my mind to just getting it right as soon as possible and trying to get back out on the park when available," he said.
That relief was similar across the Whitten Oval. The Bulldogs have started the season well and are percentage off fourth on the ladder, but Darcy is their forward ace. They have averaged 124 points a game in the three matches he has been absent (including the match against the Saints after his early substitution) but Darcy is central to their aspirations – and his aspirations are to be back inside 50 as soon as possible.
"As tough as it is watching it, it makes it easier when you see the team having a really good month and the team seems to be working really well together and firing. You want to give back and be amongst it," he said.
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