AFL Draft: Cooper Stephens’ amazing fightback from broken leg

When teenage footy star Cooper Stephens broke his leg, it could have killed his draft dream. But he hit the gym, showing a level of determination he hopes will pay off early in this year’s draft.

Cooper Stephens’ draft dream flashed before his eyes when he felt his leg snap in a tackle in April this year.

The Geelong Falcons captain had put his name up in lights for AFL recruiters as a 17-year-old last year, but looking at X-rays in Bendigo Hospital he quickly realised he wouldn’t be performing on the big stage in 2019.

But his attention quickly turned to what he could do to add further strings to his football bow and enhance his national draft prospects, working tirelessly on his physical attributes while also sitting in the coach’s box and getting to see the game from a fresh perspective.

Cooper Stephens is strapped after a training session. Picture: Stephen Harman

“My focus shifted to the combine training and getting my body fresh and right for that (after the injury), so that is what my year consisted of,” Stephens said.

“I was training four nights a week with Matt Critchley and keeping involved with the coaching team and doing edits, so I was still heavily involved and still had a role on game day and I never really felt isolated because I had such a good support team behind me.

“I loved it and you can learn plenty of different things by watching the better players and their running patterns. Even listening to Pitty (Jayden Pitt), our midfield coach, and picking his brain about structures and things like that was really good.

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Cooper Stephens prepares for a boxing session. Picture: Stephen Harman

“My main work was with Matt Critchley and I can’t thank him enough because he got me right for the combine and helped so much with my results. He worked really closely with Vic Country high performance so we put together a bit of a plan and we executed it to a tee, so that was really good.”

The results Stephens talks of were indeed impressive, and put his name back into the frame as a possible late first-round to early second-round selection.

The 18-year-old reached level 21.8 on the yoyo test – the equal-highest score at the draft combine – before completing the 2km time-trial in six minutes and 17 seconds.

Cooper Stephens sparring with Matt Critchley at Highton Reserve. Picture: Stephen Harman

It came 12 months after he was waxing with the best young footballer in the country, Sam Walsh, which had initially drawn the attention of recruiters.

“It took me a bit longer to adjust to the tempo with the bigger bodies (last year) but when I became more comfortable and got more midfield minutes I was really able to impact games more,” Stephens said.

“It is a lot easier with Sam Walsh, Ned McHenry and Oscar Brownless running around in the midfield though.”

Cooper Stephens powers through the yoyo test at the draft combine.

Having shown leadership beyond his years by helping his teammates despite his own health issues this season, as well as displaying a clear capacity to thrive in the face of adversity, all that is left now is to find out on Wednesday or Thursday just where AFL clubs rate Stephens among his peers, and whether he will remain in Victoria or land a home elsewhere.

“It is hard to gauge,” Stephens said.

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“They (AFL clubs) keep their cards pretty close to their chest so there is a lot of unknowns. It is more about picking out characteristics and telling you stuff they like or don’t like.

“One thing that I need to improve on is my outside game. Being an inside player it is about getting out of the contest and then getting to the next one.

“I am pretty comfortable with it though and it is probably a 50-50 chance that I will go interstate or stay in Victoria. I am quite independent so I am pretty confident that I would be able to go away and perform at my highest level.”

Originally published as AFL Draft: Cooper Stephens’ amazing fightback from broken leg