Devon Smith says having surgery on his latest knee injury had to be done even if rehab can be a lonely place

Playing AFL is tough on the body and mind, which Devon Smith should know having spent many lonely months in rehab throughout his career. The Essendon star provides an update on his latest knee injury.

Devon Smith with his knee iced and bandaged after Essendon’s Anzac Day match against Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images

The news from a staff member at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

It was last Monday after I’d had another scan on my right knee. In my head I went in there for a check-up scan and, if all was well, as we thought, I’d just get a cortisone injection to try to settle things.

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But as I was lying on a bed to get an ultrasound there was a knock on the door. I was told something along the lines of: “Get up and call your doctor.”

My heart sank. Obviously things were a lot worse than first thought.

Sure enough, I needed surgery on my troublesome right knee.

This new injury was going to put me out for eight to 12 weeks.

But there’s a silver lining. I’ll get an old posterior cruciate ligament injury fixed at the same time and I’m confident, at 26, that after a strong rehab my best football is ahead of me.

Dealing with injury brings up a whole range of emotions.

When you’re young, you think you’re bulletproof because there’s not much wrong with you.

But by the time your fifth or sixth pre-season comes around, if you’ve played enough senior footy and weigh under 80kg, there’s a good chance something will be sore or not quite right (broken).

Devon Smith with his knee iced and bandaged after Essendon’s Anzac Day match against Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images

It can wear you down when you play but can’t train for six or seven weeks, and you’re doing four or five hours of ice baths, and another four hours of physio/rehab/massage.

You learn what triggers frustration or makes you sad, and you put in place things to help before you reach boiling point.

Yes, we get paid well and, yes, I’m living my dream. I’m very thankful, but at the same time we put our bodies and minds through hell and back.

THE INCIDENT

Round 17, 2015, Greater Western Sydney v Geelong, Manuka Oval. There’s two minutes to go, the Cats lead by four goals, and I get a hospital handball sent my way.

Geelong’s Mark Blicavs could have killed me but we only had a heavy knee-on-knee incident that felt like a corkie. Unfortunately, it got worse and worse.

A scan revealed a high-grade posterior cruciate ligament tear in my right knee. I missed the next match, but returned in Round 19 to play four of the last five rounds not 100 per cent right.

2016 PRE-SEASON

Bad news. A couple of weeks into pre-season training I needed another scan on my knee. This time it showed the PCL was fully ruptured.

I started in Round 1, but soon after I had a left-knee arthroscope, just a clean out, and missed Rounds 6 to 15. I returned in time to play in the ­Giants’ first finals series.

Devon Smith had a setback in his first pre-season for the Bombers. Picture: Michael Klein

2017

I was still running around with a PCL deficient knee. Mind you, a lot of players in different sports play without a PCL and there are current players enjoying successful careers without them.

I completed pre-season and got through until Round 8, then on a captain’s run the day before Round 9 I was going little faster than a walk when I felt my knee go bang, crack.

At the time I feared the worst, that I had done my ACL. The hours waiting for a scan were no fun at all.

Luckily the results revealed it was “only” a lateral tear of my meniscus, which isn’t ideal but I didn’t care because it wasn’t my ACL.

I had the meniscus fixed but missed Rounds 9 to 14 and also missed out on a finals campaign. And that was the end of my time at the Giants.

2018

I felt like a refreshed player and person upon arriving at Essendon.

I was happy to be home and felt very lucky to be playing for such a great club with so much history and privileges of playing in big games.

My pre-Christmas training was modified, but after Christmas I didn’t miss much, which held me in good stead for another marathon season.

Unfortunately I developed achilles tendinitis early in the year and really battled for 16 weeks, but played out the whole year with little to no awareness of my knee.

Late in the year I had a bit of swelling here and there, but got through 22 games for the first time in my career.

Smith laying a strong tackle on Sydney’s Tom Papley last week. Picture: Getty Images

2019

I was told at the end of 2018 to have some extended time off to give my body a well-earned rest.

I had a relatively uninterrupted pre-season with a slight tear in my bicep the only hiccup.

I first experienced bad pain in my knee during the Anzac Day game. From there until the Sydney game in Round 8 it was a bit of a downward tumble week after week until an incident in the Swans game when I felt a slight crack. I was in pain but got through the match.

Before this most recent injury, scans had shown there was some damage to the surface due to my loose knee and that is why at some stage we discussed repairing the PCL.

I had another scan when we returned to Melbourne. It confirmed more damage in the knee with floating cartilage that would require an arthroscope and it might have taken 12 weeks to get back.

That diagnosis all but confirmed it was a no-brainer to do the PCL reconstruction as well as the scope.

Smith experienced knee pain against The Magpies on Anzac Day. Picture: Michael Klein

So once I got my head around doing the reconstruction, I called around and read many articles as I tried to absorb and learn the best ways for recovery.

One of my friends is Dylan Hodge, Luke’s brother, and he was kind enough to ask Luke to call me, which he did. We spent 10-15 minutes talking about how his PCL surgery went and the timelines of how long to get back into walking, running, training.

He passed on plenty of little things that will help with my recovery and I’m extremely grateful for his advice.

I go in for surgery early next week.

I plan on doing a leadership course in my time off, as well as taking a holiday for a mind break, as rehab life can be lonely and challenging.

Originally published as Devon Smith says having surgery on his latest knee injury had to be done even if rehab can be a lonely place