Aaron Duffy has worked as a physio around the world, including for Chelsea FC, before steering the Suns to a largely injury free season

Meet the unsung hero and his team of sorcerers who have kept the Suns AFLW side practically uninjured the entire season.

MEET the unsung hero and his team of sorcerers who have kept the Suns AFLW side practically uninjured the entire season.

Suns AFLW head physio Aaron Duffy graduated from Griffith University and begun his physio career in central Queensland working with remote Queensland Academy of Sport athletes.

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Wanting to broaden his horizons, Duffy made the move to the United Kingdom where he seamlessly managed to infiltrate one of the world’s most recognisable sporting institutions, the Chelsea Football Club.

The Suns AFLW side have made history and become the first team from the club to qualify for finals. Suns AFLW physio Aaron Duffy. Picture: Jerad Williams

“The head physio over there was an Australian, Jason Palmer and I managed to get his email address off one of the club administration staff,” said Duffy.

“I told him who I was and what I was looking to get out of the experience and then he got in touch and I got to go and tour their facilities where he explained to me how English football works with the frequency of games.

“There were a few more requirements I needed to have so I went and did those qualifications and a few months later, a job came up and I started with their boy’s academy.”

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From humble beginnings, Duffy soon was appointed to head physio of the women’s team and worked with them for three years.

“It was an honour to work there and I learned so much,” Duffy said.

“Everyone talks about what it’s like to work for the AFL within Melbourne and it was the same, if not more over there because it’s on TV all the time and it’s a very widely followed league.

“You felt that pressure going into work every day.”

In late 2018, Duffy returned to the Gold Coast and joined the Suns officially in early 2019 where he was given the task of building the club’s AFLW women’s program from the ground up.

Learning player positions and what each area of the ground requires was Duffy’s first consideration, as was putting in place a team to support him.

The Suns AFLW side have made history and become the first team from the club to qualify for finals. Suns AFLW physio Aaron Duffy. Picture: Jerad Williams

“The professionalism over there with the medical team, it was amazing to see how such a big medical team works so well and efficiently together to get the best outcome for players,” Duffy said.

“The first part of it was getting the staff right so we got Tiernan Gamble on board who has brought a lot of experience already from AFLW and a great sports science staff team.

“From my point of view, we’ve got quite a young and inexperienced list so I was focused on getting the basics right so we could help build them for the rest of their AFLW careers and not have them break too early in their career and have to carry stuff during their playing years.”

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As for their largely injury-free run, Duffy said it was a combination of strength, data and a hint of luck.

“There was a lot of work we did in the gym and good loading as well based on studying the players’ GPS stuff which gave us good reports so we can use them to adjust.

“Players were screened at the start of the season so we had a baseline and we’ve had a bit of luck as well.”

Another key pillar of the Suns collaborative approach to physio and strength and conditioning has been their running program.

By the time they played the Eagles in Perth in Round 6 last weekend, the group had collectively run enough kilometres on the track to arrive on foot.

But instead, they were treated with a plane ticket which has since turned into two as the Suns prepare to take on the Fremantle Dockers in their inaugural finals bout this afternoon.

“It’s been a team approach to all the results we’ve achieved,” Duffy said.

“Everyone has brought their individual skill set and we’ve had great support from the men’s program as well.”