GWD Giants ruckman Shane Mumford poised for stunning AFL comeback
GWS has revealed the untold story of the plan to resurrect the broken and busted Shane Mumford from his AFL retirement.
The Mummy Returns is a sequel the GWS Giants thought too impossible to conceive.
Shane Mumford’s remarkable resurrection 18 months after his injury-forced retirement has defied the medical advice of doctors who were adamant the ruckman had no choice but to hang up the boots.
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But an inspired suggestion by former Swans premiership winner and now Giants forwards coach Amon Buchanan has paved the way for one of the most intriguing comebacks in AFL history.
The stage is set for Mumford to come back to life this Saturday against Richmond at Giants Stadium and the secret plan to rebuild the broken big man can now be revealed.
When GWS gave Mumford a job as ruck coach it was meant to be the start of a new career. But out of nowhere it became his road back to the big time.
“No, he was in trouble,” said Giants Head of Football, Wayne Campbell.
“It was a collection of things. He had a bad knee that he’d had for a few years. He had an ankle that’d been no good. He broke that at one stage.
“Then he broke his navicular (inner side of the foot, above the arch) in that final in 2017 in Adelaide and he was no good.
“He was done. His foot and ankle were buggered and at that stage there was never any thought about having 12 months off and then we’ll reassess. It was never that.
“But he got into boxing and that obviously kept him fit and it wasn’t until two thirds of the way through the year (2018) … there was one particular day where he took on the three rucks (he was coaching) and acquitted himself pretty well and Amon Buchanan said, ‘geez, you should have seen him.’”
About a week later Mumford was sitting in Campbell’s office and contemplating mission impossible.
“I called him and said, ‘would you be interested?’” said Campbell.
“The first thing was, ‘what do you think of your body?’ And secondly, your mind is almost the most important thing. The body needs to tick the box but once guys are retired it’s hard for them to switch their brain back on.
“The difference with Shane was he was boxing. It’s not like he was knitting or playing chess … he hadn’t lost his competitiveness.
“It wasn’t shock and awe when we first brought it up. It was, ‘I think I probably could do it.’”
The Giants and Mumford both made it clear that there was plenty of water to go under the bridge, and either party could pull out at any time.
Mumford could decide he couldn’t go ahead with the rigorous training test set for him to complete, and GWS could decide to go down a different recruitment path.
But both stuck true and Mumford feels boxing has given him greater agility than he’s ever had before.
After serving a two-match, club-imposed suspension over the resurfacing of an old video of him snorting a white substance in the off-season, Mumford is now out to prove what an asset he can be, age 32.
“We’re happy with how (fellow rucks) Dawson Simpson and Matthew Flynn are developing and how Kieren Briggs is going in his first year, but to have a guy like Shane with his experience around the club (is a huge bonus.”
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