West Adelaide’s Hugh Haysman returns to Bloods side following freak wrist injury

When Hugh Haysman ran out for West Adelaide after 652 days between league games, it was a far cry from the moment he was told he might never be able to play footy again.

Hugh Haysman celebrates with West Adelaide teammate Kaine Stevens. Haysman earlier this month returned to the Bloods line-up for the first time in almost two years following a significant wrist injury. Picture: Sarah Reed.

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When Hugh Haysman ran out for West Adelaide after 652 days between league games, it was a far cry from the moment he was told he might never be able to play footy again.

Haysman suffered a freak wrist injury playing basketball in the lead-up to the 2018 pre-season.

Almost two years, including six months of hand therapy, later Haysman finally fronted for the Bloods’ league team at Noarlunga Oval against South Adelaide a fortnight ago.

Coincidentally, Haysman’s last league game came at the same venue against the Panthers on July 22, 2017.

A broken finger later that year, the long-term wrist injury and a torn hamstring in the final trial match before this season amounted to the 22-year-old’s substantial stint on the sidelines.

Hugh Haysman tackles South’s Ben Heaslip in 2017 – his last league match before the long injury lay off. Picture: Tom Huntley

Haysman in action during the 2015 grand final win. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Haysman, a member of West’s drought-breaking 2015 premiership team, was filled with excitement running out on the field earlier this month.

“Driving to the ground was a weird feeling, given my last league match was there against South,” Haysman, of Hawthorn, says.

“It was really exciting to be honest – that was the biggest thing for me after where I came from.

“I had a pretty bad accident two weeks before the start of pre-season where I was playing basketball and I fell over and basically landed on my wrist the wrong way.

“The way I landed ... the scaphoid bone actually shattered.

“The surgeon looked at my scans and said ‘wow this is worse than I first thought, if we don’t get this right there’s a chance you may never be able to play football again’.

“As you can probably imagine, to hear that in that moment ... I’ve never had a more shattering feeling in my life to be honest.”

A successful surgery to put a screw in his scaphoid bone was followed by no activity for three months and then six months of hand therapy.

Hugh Haysman (third from left) with Bloods teammates at the West End Brewery chimney colours unveiling for the 2015 SANFL premiership. Picture: Calum Robertson

Haysman also saw a sports psychologist throughout the process and “was at a pretty bad place at one point”.

The versatile 42-gamer managed four reserves outings at the end of 2018 on the back of the shattered wrist.

He laid 12 tackles in his first match back.

Then last week, after another spell out with his hamstring injury, West coach Gavin Colville chose to put Haysman back into the league line-up because of his form in the trial matches.

Haysman gathered seven touches and kicked a goal, impressing Colville with his trademark tackling pressure and getting named third-best for the Bloods.

“First and foremost, I’m just happy to be back out there again,” Haysman says.

“To come away with a loss (last week against South) was disappointing but I thought to myself on the way home ‘I can’t take playing footy for granted anymore’.”

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