North Adelaide’s Josh Gregg recovering from a perforated bowel

NORTH Adelaide footballer Josh Gregg is a month away from playing after suffering a perforated bowel last month, but he reckons he is lucky.

NORTH Adelaide footballer Josh Gregg is more than a month away from playing after suffering a perforated bowel last month.

But he reckons he is fortunate.

“I feel lucky in a way because if it was my spleen it could’ve been a lot worse,” Gregg says.

“Mine (the perforation) was only the size of a fingernail but that size can really affect you.”

The 20-year-old midfielder was crunched in a marking contest against West Adelaide at Richmond Oval on April 17.

He spent a week in hospital recovering from surgery then went home to Ouyen, in country Victoria, to further recuperate.

“Someone came in from the side, tried to take a hanger and got his knee flush in my stomach,” he says.

“I came off for about three minutes then I went back on because I was feeling pretty good but when I had a kick of the footy, I felt something happen inside.

“When I came off I could barely breathe.

“I didn’t think much of it at first but when I got to hospital, the pain was worse and I thought something could be really bad here.

“They had to cut me open ... and had to do what they had to do to get it better because I was in a lot of pain.”

Gregg, who says he is not feeling too bad, aims to resume training in a fortnight and playing in a month.

“It wasn’t that big a knock but you realise little things like that can affect you so you shouldn’t take footy for granted,” he says.