Irish Echo Sport

Sydney Swans rookie Brendan Murphy’s latest column on life in the AFL

LAST week was a very tough one for me as I headed into hospital for surgery on my shoulder.

I really wasn’t up to anything as I was just so gutted after injuring my shoulder in the second quarter of our reserves game two weeks ago.

I made a tackle and as I fell I landed with all my weight on my shoulder and it subluxed (the joint partially dislocated) causing some damage to the bone.

I also tore some ligaments which meant I had to go in for an operation – it was really tough to handle considering it was only leading into round two.

I headed into the hospital for the surgery which only lasted for an hour or so, and I thought I’d then be able to go home afterwards. Unfortunately there was no chance of that as I was in such a serious amount of pain.

But to be honest, it was probably better that I stayed in there to let it settle while I also knew I’d be able to get some good pain killers from the doctors which was a bonus!

It was a long night with very little sleep and I was glad to get home the following morning. The worst thing was not being able to go to the club and feeling like I wasn’t a part of the preparations for the Hawthorn game.

It was especially tough to hear just how good the training session was that day. Apparently it was unreal as the boys trained out of their skins to prove to the coaches they were up for round two against the defending Premiers.

I felt a little better on Friday when some of the coaches rang me just to see how I was travelling. They confirmed to me that the club still want me and would be keen to offer me a contract.

That would obviously be great, but when I’m injured like this I’m just thinking whether or not this is worth it. I’ve had a lot of niggly injuries since I arrived here and I haven’t really been able to prove myself fully. I found myself thinking ‘was coming out here a mistake or what?’

But I suppose every injured player goes through that and I’m confident that I’m going to get through this tough time and get myself fit and ready and into the seniors by the end of the season. There’s certainly no doubt that this will imake me mentally stronger.

Well the seniors played Saturday night and to be honest, after the first 10 minutes, I was worrying about a big loss.

It was a very poor performance from both seniors and reserves in round one the week before – especially with the seniors not scoring for two quarters of football, which is unheard of really!

From talking to the boys though, they said the club is still really upbeat and everyone was looking forward to coming up against Hawthorn.

That sure proved to be the case as the boys came through and ended up with a convincing 34-point win to prove to everyone the Swans are far from finished with like all the media had been claiming.

This week I’ll be in the club everyday for physio getting my arm loosened with a bit of rubbing – it’s unreal how stiff and sore it’s become already so I have to look after it and not let it get any worse. I get my stitches out on Thursday (tommorow) hopefully and then the pain shouldn’t be as bad.

The coaches told me to go home for a while to cheer myself up and to freshen up, so I’ll probably fly home Friday for three weeks or so. 

Finally, I’d just like to say well done to Micheal Quinn who made his debut on the weekend for Essendon. Fair play, it’s a massive effort!

* Brendan Murphy will return with his next column in May as he returns to Ireland to recover from shoulder surgery in the meantime.