South Adelaide’s Zac Dumesny returns to the field after brain surgery set back

South Adelaide’s Zac Dumesny has made an emotional return to football, a year after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour.

It took a whopping 560 days between games and 13 months of physical and mental torture but South Adelaide footballer Zac Dumesny is finally back playing the sport he loves.

Last Saturday – 392 days since undergoing brain surgery – the 21-year-old former top AFL draft prospect emotionally returned to the footy field amid little fanfare in what was a red-letter day for him, his family and his SANFL club.

Wearing a helmet for the first time, Dumesny played all four quarters of a SANFL trial game for the Panthers against Woodville-West Torrens at Noarlunga Oval, just over a year after he underwent an eight-hour brain operation that left him virtually having to learn to walk and talk again.

When the popular Dumesny was lying in his bed at The Memorial Hospital last February, he thought his football career might be over.

Now he is sporting a smile from ear to ear and dreaming big after safely negotiating his comeback game.

South Adelaide’s Zac Dumesny (second from left), with his mum Nicole, girlfriend Samantha, dad Duane and dog Darcy. Picture: RoyVphotography

“It’s a pretty special feeling to be back playing again,’’ Dumesny told The Advertiser.

“It’s something I never really expected after the surgery. In fact, if you had told me that I’d get to this point I would probably have laughed at you and thought it’s not realistic.

“To look back at where I was then to where I am now, I’m so proud and really can’t believe it.’’

Rewind 13 months and Dumesny - a local South product from Christies Beach - had just survived a complicated, eight-hour operation to remove a brain tumour after he had seen a neurologist after being troubled by headaches for more than a year and a half.

An MRI revealed “a large cyst on my brain which had a tumour connected to it,” Dumesny said.

Prior to surgery, Dumesny was told that the operation could affect his ability to speak or walk and that there could be other complications.

And then there was the threat of the tumour being malignant.

“The whole thing was pretty frightening, not knowing how things were going to turn out and hearing about all the things that could go wrong,’’ Dumesny said.

“It was a tricky operation and really scary but fortunately everything went really well.’’

Zac Dumesny at Noarlunga Oval this week with the helmet he has started wearing. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The surgery on the back of Dumesny’s head - on February 4 last year - was supposed to go for three hours.

Instead, it was so complicated it went for eight.

But the Dumesny family (Zac, his mum Nicole, dad Duane and sister Chloe) got the news they had prayed for - the tumour was benign.

“When I went in for surgery they weren’t certain whether the tumour was cancerous or not,’’ Zac said. “Thank goodness it wasn’t.’’

Dumesny - with wonderful support from his family and girlfriend Samantha - spent a week in hospital recovering before beginning his long and slow road to recovery.

With the operation deemed a success and his long-term prognosis good, Dumesny’s attention quickly turned to playing football again.

In his AFL draft year in 2020, the 187cm utility had been considered one of SA’s top draft prospects after being a member of the AFL Academy and having played league football for the Panthers.

But he was surprisingly overlooked at the draft, where Riley Thilthorpe (Adelaide), Lachie Jones (Port Adelaide), Corey Durdin (Carlton) and Luke Edwards (West Coast) were among the Croweaters to find AFL homes.

Zac Dumesny in hospital recovering after brain surgery. Picture: Supplied/Nicole Dumesny

Dumesny has never given up on his AFL dream and was determined to play football again.

“Initially it was almost like I had to learn how to walk and talk again,” he said of his rehabilitation program.

“Exercise-wise it was basically three-to-four months of doing nothing because, as part of my recovery, I wasn’t allowed to get my heart rate up. That killed me mentally because I am a very active person.

“The most exercise I was allowed was to go for a very slow walk along my local beach (Christies Beach).

“After four months I was able to incorporate a few more things, starting with jumping on the exercise bike - at very low intensity - and then progressing to light weights and skill work around the footy club. Then I was able to start running again.’’

Just as Dumesny was making good progress, he had a setback.

He suffered an abdominal hernia that required surgery, stalling his recovery for six weeks.

But his determination to return to football, which his surgeon said was a possibility, never wavered.

Dumesny upped the ante with his training in November, was given the green light to join non-contact training in December and on February 4 - exactly a year after his surgery - he was given the medical all-clear to resume full training, provided he wore a helmet to protect the cerebellum part of his head.

Zac Dumesny at South Adelaide training this week. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“That was a special day,’’ he said.

Dumesny played in an internal trial for South under lights two weeks ago - “I had a bit of trouble adjusting to the lights, which will come with time,’’ he said - before being selected to take on the Eagles.

Playing at half-back, that was his first competitive game since Round 19, 2022 - ironically also against the Eagles at Noarlunga.

“I don’t usually get nervous before games but I was pretty nervous last week,’’ Dumesny said.

“It was such a long build-up and so much work had gone into it. I was just hoping to get through the game and not really worrying too much about performance but I felt really comfortable out there and played okay, which gives me something to build on.

“I still have some little ongoing issues, including balance, which will improve with time but I’m just very grateful to be in the position I’m in now.

“There was a time when I didn’t think I would play football again so I’m super-proud to have got back and now that I’ve had a taste I want more.

“I’m still young and know I can get better and better and that it will take time to find my best form but I’m excited to see what comes.

“I’ve been playing football for pretty much my whole life, it’s what I know, and I want to challenge myself to play at the highest level I can.’’

Zac Dumesny with girlfriend Samantha. Picture: RoyVphotography

Off-field, Dumesny is studying speech pathology at Flinders University and said the work he had done in his rehabilitation would put him “in the box seat to help others’’.

South coach Jarrad Wright hailed Dumesny’s comeback, describing it as “a great story’’.

“I’m unbelievably proud of the young man, not only from a football sense but just to be able to get back to full health,’’ he said.

“I remember sitting in the hospital room with Zac post-surgery, which was a really daunting and challenging place to be, seeing what he had gone through and all the what-ifs around his road to recovery, and to watch him get better day by day and show such great determination, grit and perseverance epitomises him as a person.

“It’s been a really challenging and emotional 13 months for him and his family and the cherry on top is to get back to playing football, which is something he striven so hard for.

“Watching Zac on the weekend, it didn’t look like he had missed 18 months of footy, which is a real credit to him.’’