“I thought, ‘that’s it, I’m done with footy’, because I was sick of all the injuries,’’ says Glenelg defender Max Proud.
Two years ago, Glenelg defender Max Proud was lying in hospital thinking his career was over, now he is on the verge of his first SANFL grand final.
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When Max Proud was lying in Wakefield Hospital in excruciating pain with his face “caved in’’, he thought enough is enough.
After enduring three years of serious injuries that had knocked him rotten and stopped him from fulfilling his potential, Proud had made his mind up to pull the pin on his career — at the tender age of 25 — while he was still in one piece.
“That was the tipping point for me,’’ the Glenelg vice-captain said of the three days he spent in hospital following the round six clash against Norwood two years ago.
“I’d had a bad injury run in the years before that and was just back into the league team and within a couple of minutes of the first quarter I was cleaned up in a marking contest.
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“I copped a knee in my face (from Redleg Lewis Johnston) and knew straight away that I was in trouble because after the impact the right side of my face went numb.
“I felt around my eye socket and there was a big depression there, so I knew my face had caved in.
“It was a pretty serious injury and while I was lying in hospital, having had four metal plates and some screws inserted into the right side of my face to hold it together, I thought, ‘that’s it, I’m done with footy’, because I was sick of all the injuries.’’
Proud, who had won under-18s and reserves premierships with Glenelg before making his league debut in 2012, had in the three previous years suffered a broken wrist, broken finger, badly damaged ankle and two torn hamstrings.
But the 190cm key utility, who had always been a popular clubman, was told by then Tigers high performance manager Brad Keller to let the dust settle before making such an important decision.
Six weeks later he was back playing — wearing a mask to protect his rebuilt face — and hasn’t looked back.
“I loved the club so much that I found I couldn't leave, that I had to give myself another chance,’’ the resilient Proud said.
It was the best decision of his career.
Since returning, Proud, now 27, has stayed sound and delivered on the promise he showed before being cruelled by injury.
Impressing coach Mark Stone when he arrived at Brighton Road at the end of 2017, Proud was named in Glenelg’s 2018 leadership group and responded with a best and fairest season.
He was named vice-captain behind fellow key defender Chris Curran this year, played his first State game against Western Australia in Perth in May and helped the Tigers claim their first minor premiership since 2009.
“It’s been a good year, my most enjoyable because of the amount of games we’ve won, the way we’ve played and the tight-knit group we’ve got,’’ Proud said.
But Proud, who has made getting his body right “a huge priority’’ since returning from his career-threatening facial injury — “I do plenty of extras with recovery, stretching and pilates,’’ he said — is not satisfied.
Having had his first league final end in a heartbreaking four-point loss to arch rival Port Adelaide in last week’s second semi-final, Proud is desperate to make amends in the preliminary final against Adelaide on Sunday.
“Our effort and pressure was up against Port but some of our ball movement wasn’t as good as we would have liked and we made some mistakes, silly errors, at critical times that cost us,’’ he said.
“We’ll try to correct them and go out and give it absolutely everything we’ve got against the Crows because we know there’s no second chance this time.’’
It will be a big day for the Proud family.
While Max will be fighting to play in his first league grand final, sister Maddy will be in Sydney helping to coach the Sydney Swifts in the Super Netball grand final against Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Maddy, 25, is Swifts captain but is sidelined after undergoing a knee reconstruction three months ago.
Brother Doug, 22, narrowly missed out on playing in the Adelaide Footy League Division 2 grand final this weekend, with his team Sacred Heart Old Collegians losing the preliminary final to Athelstone.
Sport takes centre stage in the Proud family, with Max’s dad Tony having playing league football for West Adelaide and his grandfather Bob for North Adelaide.