Port Adelaide’s Tom Rockliff undergoes third shoulder reconstruction in blow to career
Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff faces long injury lay-off after undergoing surgery in a big setback which will see him miss most of the pre-season. He is one of seven Power players to go under the knife since the end of the season.
Port Adelaide
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In a major setback to his career, Port Adelaide midfield ace Tom Rockliff has undergone a third shoulder reconstruction in two years.
The 29-year-old former Brisbane captain had his suspect left shoulder rebuilt for a third time at Sportsmed in Adelaide on Tuesday night and will miss much of the Power’s pre-season.
Port Adelaide revealed on Thursday he was one of seven players who have undergone post-season surgeries.
Travis Boak, Zak Butters and Sam Gray also had shoulder operations, and are all expected to be available to return to training pre-Christmas, but will re-join the team running sessions before the start of pre-season.
Hamish Hartlett had an arthroscopy on his knee, with the vice-captain expected to return to training before the Christmas break.
Karl Amon and Steven Motlop both had minor knee tidy-ups, and are expected to be available for the start of pre-season.
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While Rockliff hopes to be available for Port’s first pre-season game next year, he faces a long recovery period after undergoing a complex Latarjet-Bristow procedure.
This involved a piece of bone being taken from one part of his shoulder and attached to the front of the shoulder socket.
This acts as a barrier to block the shoulder from slipping out of the socket.
“It’s frustrating,’’ Rockliff told The Advertiser of his latest surgery which will leave his left arm in a sling for six weeks before he can begin light rehabilitation work and start running again.
“These shoulder injuries have become pretty debilitating at times but hopefully this surgery will do the job.
“If all goes to plan I hope to be ready to play the first pre-season match next year but we’ll have to wait to see how things go with the recovery.
“I’ll be out of all contact drills until after Christmas, which is frustrating because you want to have a full pre-season, especially at my age.
“But I’ll just have to get on with things.’’
Rockliff had his first shoulder reconstruction (keyhole) when he signed for Port as a free agent at the end of 2017.
But he damaged the same shoulder against Richmond in round 12 during his first season at Alberton last year and then it popped out of its joint completely against West Coast in round 21.
He underwent more invasive surgery at the end of last year where he was “sliced open and they went in to clean everything up, tightened it all so hopefully the shoulder wouldn’t slip anymore’’.
Rockliff said he re-injured his shoulder in Showdown 46 in round eight this year — where he collected a game-high 41 disposals in the Power’s 20-point loss — when he was pushed in the back by Crow Cam Ellis-Yolmen following a centre bounce contest and fell awkwardly forward with both arms outstretched.
“Unfortunately I felt a little wobble in the left shoulder when I landed,’’ he recalled.
“I played out the game and the rest of the year because it didn't feel too bad but there were moments in games where it would flare up, feel a bit jumpy and be a bit restricting.
“It had its good and bad moments.’’
Rockliff said he had hoped to avoid a third bout of surgery but after consulting a surgeon last Friday he was delivered the bad news.
“The surgeon said we need to fix it,’’ he said.
Rockliff’s latest, more complex surgery — proven to be successful in contact athletes, particularly rugby players — is usually the last resort for sportspeople who have had multiple shoulder reconstructions that continue to cause them trouble.
Rockliff has played 36 of a possible 44 games in his two years at Port after playing 154 matches in nine seasons at the Lions.
He averaged 28.5 disposals in 18 matches this year — eight disposals more than his 2018 average.