Joel Bennett didn’t know if he was badly winded or seriously injured.

Playing out the final minutes of what would end as a heated draw against other local club the Inverleigh Hawks, the Corio footballer went up for what he thought was an uncontested mark inside 50, only to cop a knee in the back from a Hawks defender looking to spoil Bennett’s brother Toby’s delivery.

Laying crumpled on the ground at Shell Reserve, those two vastly different thoughts raced through the star midfielder’s mind.

“As the pain never sort of went away, I remember laying on the ground and trying to push myself up and my left arm collapsed underneath me,” Joel said.

“It twigged then, something might be a bit more wrong.”

Now almost 11 months on from that Saturday afternoon of May 11, 2024, Joel sits inside Corio’s clubrooms and chuckles, “it’s amazing I’m running out there” this Saturday in what will be his first official match back from a serious spinal injury.

‘GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES AND I’LL TRY GET BACK OUT THERE’

Taken from the field on a stretcher – the first time in his 15-year career – Joel was forced to lie in a brace position in the first-aid room awaiting an ambulance. Corio trainer John Groot and Inverleigh trainer James Shanahan, a doctor, were with him.

“They probably knew it was a bit more serious than I did,” Joel said.

“I was saying give me five minutes and I’ll try get back out there.”

As play restarted outside, mere metres from where Joel – Corio’s co-coach alongside dad Darren – lay, winning the game was the only thing on his mind.

“I was probably just worried about what was happening out on the ground, we had a couple shots late and I was yelling out to my mum (Lynda) and a couple members of the crowd, I wanted play-by-play commentary,” Joel said.

For dad Darren, he was forced to park his own worries about his son.

“(I) had to go through the last five minutes and try and win the game, but knew something was really wrong,” Darren said.

First transported to Geelong hospital where initial scans were taken, Joel was later transferred to the Alfred Hospital where there was a specialist spinal team waiting.

Spending a week in hospital, Joel had little answers early on, with doctors unable to tell the seriousness of the injury.

“There was a lot times they’d take scans and couldn’t exactly pick up what was going on in there because there was too much swelling,” he said.

Though he would avoid surgery, Bennett later learned he had fractured his C7, T1 and T2 neck vertebra, with one piece of bone completely snapping off near the base of his neck.

“My spinal cord is protected and there is still a bit of bone, and they say it will calcify … the body heals around it,” he said.

“It was bit weird at the time, you hear your spine’s never going to go back together and at the same time, don’t be too concerned about it.”

By the Thursday, Joel eventually got the news he’d avoided any serious paralysis.

“It was a big sigh of relief – by that stage I couldn't use much of my body, I could move my hands a little bit, the left side of my body still had tingles,” he said.

“Pretty scary in the moment, but in the long run, it was best case scenario.”

‘TO LOSE SIX MONTHS OF YOUR LIFE, IT’S PRETTY BRUTAL’

Sit down with Joel for more than five minutes and your instantly drawn to his friendly nature and optimistic outlook.

But the 28-year-old revealed his mental health took a turn throughout his health ordeal, riding the ups and down of not knowing at times his prognosis or outlook, as well as the loss of independence spent lying prone in a hospital bed in his bedroom or lounge room for up to six weeks.

“All your family, close friends they all want answers and everyone’s asking me what the go is with my back, and I’m like ‘I don’t know’,” Joel said.

“You get frustrated with that, I generally don’t know, I’m feeling okay but I’m still in a wheelchair and can’t walk.”

Forced to rely on others, including fiance Tiff, for help, and away from work, was a foreign experience for the typically active family man.

The Corio Football Netball Club, as well as wider football community Joel had long been part of, rallied around their friend, a Go Fund Me page quickly set up to help relieve the family’s financial burden through his early recovery.

All in One – a major Corio FNC sponsor – donated $10,000, while Joel said his longtime employer Geelong Septic Tanks was extremely supportive of the plumber throughout the ordeal.

Eventually, Joel’s first steps to recovery were literally that: “I’d take five steps, to six, to seven steps”, he said.

“It was pretty boring, but they were such big milestones at the time.”

Back in the pool by around the 12-week mark, Joel suffered an initial setback as some nerves flared up, forcing him back into hospital for another week.

“I had just started running, and swimming and my strength rehab, everyone was like ‘are you pushing it too hard’?’ he said.

A lack of answers again caused confusion, before a nerve specialist provided clarity and the situation eventually settled down, as Joel started his rebab again from ground zero.

“There was a lot of little sessions, me in the pool trying to move my arms like this and that, my neck …” he said.

“It was good, but also frustrating … sometimes you just want to go. But physically you just can’t.

“In a lot of ways I wanted to go further and further and further, but the injury, I had to put a handbrake on myself.”

It wasn’t until the six month milestone Joel returned to work, starting the process of getting his life back together.

“I’m pretty active person, I work everyday, don’t take too many sick days, it’s things like that,” he said.

“To lose six months of your life, it’s pretty brutal.”

‘TRAUMATIC FOR ALL OF US’

For mum Lynda, anxiousness is the primary feeling ahead of her eldest son’s return to football.

Once the highlight of her week watching her sons Joel and Toby play, Lynda, who wears multiple hats at the club as secretary and football team manager among others, described last year’s ordeal as “horrible”.

“Very traumatic for all of us, especially his partner (Tiff) too,” Lynda said.

Renting an Airbnb in Melbourne with Tiff during Joel’s first hospital stay, Lynda was on hand to help look after their two young children Flynn, 3, and Zahli, 2.

Now, with Joel anticipating his return to footy, Lynda is bracing for a tough watch on Saturday.

“Footy is his life and has been for so long, how do you take that away from someone?,” she said.

“The week before, in a practice match, he got a knock and was on the ground, and Toby came in and said he had that PTSD (seeing that). It’s not just affected Joel, but the whole playing group and especially his brother.”

But for Joel, being confined to the sidelines last year and unable to help his team as it fell to 10 consecutive loss to end their season, proved difficult.

So, his return to the field in a handful of practice matches last month was like Christmas Day for the passionate footballer.

“The first bit of match sim we did out at Lara, I don’t think I got a kick, but I reckon, just talking to the boys, being out there, I remember turning to Destyn Burns at one point, we were playing in the forward line together, and I said ‘how good is this’,” he said.

“I genuinely didn’t care about getting a touch, I just wanted to be out there with the boys.

“To get out there on Saturday, it’s the whole reason, as much as I want my life back, I love footy, I love my team, I love all my teammates.

“I’ll probably catch myself having a moment (this Saturday) and sort of look around, that this is all those little swimming sessions where I could only swim two laps.

“It’s been the motivating factor for me … it’s all been working to get back to this point.”

The 2023 Whitley medallist knows he’ll have to build some form back up, but after turning his attentions to coaching in recent years, his focus is no longer firmly focused about his own individual output.

Instead it’s team success, the gun midfielder happy to “play second fiddle” to other stars such as reigning Whitley medallist Matt James.

And after targeting a number of experienced recruits in the off-season, Joel is confident the bulk of responsibility through the midfield won't fall on him and James alone,recruit Russ Cowan one who will require just as much opposition attention.

“Having all three of us there, you can’t tag all three of us,” he said.

“It gives us options, if Matt can get off the chain, or I can get off the chain.

“We can find that balance as the year goes on … it will be nice to create some headaches for opposition coaches.”

‘ON A MISSION TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME’

Joel never questioned coming back to northern suburb Corio once he had finished up at VFL level, returning in 2021 determined to bring success back to a club starved of wins.

There’s been some small wins along the way, Joel’s Whitley medal followed by James’ own victory last year, and though the Devils finished last year with the wooden spoon and a 2-15-1 record, there were glimpses in the rubble of what the Bennett family had long been working towards.

“I was pretty clear in my own mind, I went and played (Geelong) Falcons and had a few years in the VFL system but once that draft dream was over, I was straight back,” Joel said.

“At one point I flew to Brisbane to meet with Aspley, spent a week up there, but that wasn’t really what drove me.
“The club had struggled for quite a few years before we came back, I think there was seven coaches in five years and just as many presidents to go with it.

“As a family, we really tried to stabilise the club, I don’t think there is ever a moment what we’re doing doesn’t revolve around the footy club, we certainly want to bring it some success.”

As he gets ready to take the coaching reins solo this year – dad Darren moving into the president’s role – Joel credits the long list of top coaches who have influenced his own football journey – from Falcons’ coaches, Andy Viola and Greg Mellor at Geelong West, Mark ‘Choco’ Williams, John Lamont, Michael Barlow and Nick Daffy at Werribee and Shane O’Bree at Geelong VFL.

“I’ve been around some pretty great people who have shaped my leadership,” he said.

“I feel like I’ve handled it pretty well so far. I’ve got Adam Bell, Shane Bremner, Nathan Kenyon, Matt James is coaching now, Johnny Gillett coaches the twos and is a big part of what we do as a senior coaching group, I feel like I’ve got a good support network around me.

“Jarrod Bayliss that we’ve recruited, he’s been a bit of mentor for me behind the scenes, me and him speak on the phone everyday, for an hour at times.

“It’s a little bit different not having dad there, but I think I’ve taken it in my stride.”

An intrinsically driven and optimistic person, Joel is confident in what Corio can achieve this season, after those series of setbacks last year.

But he is also well aware progress isn’t always linear, after going from five wins in 2023 to 2.5 last year, and that sometimes, like his rehab, you can’t speed up time and the process.

“It was a bit of a setback, but I feel we’re back well on track to that 2023 form where we recruited Matt James to take us to that next level,” Joel said.
“We’ve banded that group back together and we really feel like we’re on a mission to make up for lost time.

“All the little mundane things you have to do, it all builds up.

“I still feel like in the next couple years, we can get that ultimate success.”