37.8 kph: AFL's fastest man thanks to a broken bone and an ambulance

This is the story of how a footballer with a broken fibula, dislocated ankle and syndesmosis issues became the fastest player in the AFL!

It was Saturday April 29, 2023.

Melbourne was 4-2… North Melbourne was 2-4.

On the AFL App, Geelong speedster Gary Rohan held the record for the fastest player… a measurement taken by the GPS tracker, supported by Champion Data and Telstra.

Rohan ran 37.8 kph… Most players top speed was significantly lower than that.

Melbourne was leading 30 to 0 halfway through the first quarter on this otherwise insignificant Saturday night clash at the MCG.

Bailey Fritsch had two, with singles to Tom Sparrow, Kysaiah Pickett and Kade Chandler.

Charlie Comben, who was playing his 9th AFL game, rose for a mark… Landed terribly from a marking contest while trying to spoil. And was stretchered off.

Comben went to hospital, the ambulance speeding down Punt Road… Veering around cars like Mel Gibson in a Lethal Weapon movie…

And after a spell with the green whistle, he was operated on that night… As it turns out his surgeon from a previous injury – a Melbourne supporter, was at the game.

This surgeon had an anaesthetist on standby… He operated on Comben and the next morning turned up to check on him, still wearing his Melbourne beanie, jumper, scarf and badges… Just to rub in the fact North had been trounced by 90 points.

So why am I telling you this story?

Well, weeks later… Comben was sent a screenshot of the AFL app by a close friend.

On the app, Gary Rohan had run the fastest at any given time still.

But Comben was equal first… 37.8 kilometres per hour.

A proud athlete? Yes.

An elite sprinter? Not that he was aware.

As part of Story Time this week, I went back and spoke to lots of people involved with the app, North Melbourne, and the technology.

None could work out how Charlie Comben, 199cm, 100ish kilos, Pick 31 in the 2019 National Draft, ran as quick as Gary Rohan.

I watched the vision… The stretcher was going at walking pace.

I can reveal tonight that Charlie Comben isn’t the quickest player because of his running, or the speed of the motorised stretcher car…

No, it was the ambulance! Weaving in and out of tracking along Brunton Avenue!

And now that Gary Rohan is retired… He sits solo at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Nick Watson, Kozzie Pickett and every single other current player!

37.8 kilometres per hour… A quick google search will tell you Usain Bolt’s average speed across his World Record sprint in 2009 was 37.58 kilometres per hour.