Former Melbourne captain Jack Trengove has revealed the incredible extent of the foot injury he suffered during his time at the Demons.
Trengove became the club’s youngest captain in 2012 but never returned to the potential of his first two seasons in the league, as Melbourne went through one of its darkest periods in history.
A fracture in the 30-year old’s navicular bone early in the 2014 season saw him miss almost two years of footy, just after relinquishing the captaincy at the end of 2013.
The former captain told Sportsday SA just how serious his injury was.
“It’s a really frustrating one, the navicular one is a tiny little bone in your foot but it takes all the pressure with every step you take,” Trengove said.
“So, there was a fracture through that, then we put screws through there and it fractured through the screws as well, so just about every step brought pain.
“There was a while there where the surgeons and doctors that I was gaining advice from were sort of saying ‘you’ll be lucky to walk again, let alone run,’ so that was extremely frustrating.
“My leg wasted away, not having stood on it for two years, so I had to rebuild the whole leg.”
Despite the ordeal, he says it’s all part of the parcel of being an AFL player.
“I’m just grateful to be back and being relatively pain-free now, I still have to monitor different loads, if I get too excited and run too much in a week I certainly feel the pain,” he said.
“It’s difficult but everyone gets injuries, it’s all part of footy and they’re the sacrifices you make.”
Trengove fell out of favour at the Dees after returning, eventually delisted in 2017. He signed as a depth player at Port Adelaide to play a further three games to take his AFL tally to 89.