Gold Coast Suns forward Sam Day opens up about his journey back from injury

Foundation Sun Sam Day says he rushed back to football too quickly following his horrific hip injury and is only now feeling like he has bounced back from the incident three years on.

FOUNDATION Sun Sam Day says he rushed back to football too quickly following his horrific hip injury and is only now feeling like he has bounced back from the incident three years on.

It’s the moment that will be etched into the minds of Day and everyone who was at the suburban ground at Broadbeach for the club’s pre-season game against Brisbane in 2017.

Day dislocated his hip while trying to gather a ground ball, former coach Rodney Eade had concerns it would end his career and others compared it to injuries sustained by car crash victims.

The now 27-year-old forward make an incredible comeback in Round 1 of the 2018 AFL season and managed 12 games that year before no appearing at senior level again until Round 13 last year.

Gold Coast Suns AFL team photo day. Player, Sam Day. Picture: Jerad Williams

A raw Day conceded he previously hurried back to football too quickly and the affects had shown.

“It took me a little longer to recover from my hip than I thought it did, I maybe even rushed myself back a bit too quickly and thought I was ready when maybe I wasn’t,” Day said.

“I look at any of the 2018 season games and I wasn’t in great shape, I didn’t feel like I was running on top of the ground.

“I feel like I’m back to where I was pre-hip injury now so I’m excited about what can be going forward.

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“I probably needed the first half of last season to find my feet again and work out what I was going to be as a footballer and hopefully this year – touch wood – I’m injury free and I can hit the ground running.

“I have some good weapons around me and hopefully I can have a good year with it.”

His preparations for 2020 haven’t been without it’s challenges, with Day suffering a “fairly serious” hamstring injury in the first week of pre-season training.

Sam Day of the Suns celebrates a goal during the 2020 Marsh Community AFL Series match between the Gold Coast Suns and the Geelong Cats at Metricon Stadium on February 22, 2020 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

It kept him out of training with the main group until the week before Gold Coast’s practice game against Brisbane in February.

Day has taken it upon himself to become more of a leader among a forward contingent stacked full of young talent including Alex Sexton, Ben Ainsworth, Darcy Macpherson, Izak Rankine, Josh Corbett, Peter Wright, Sean Lemmens, Ben King, Nick Holman and Malcolm Rosas.

“I’m excited and I feel like I can have a big influence on the group if I can stay healthy and really drive the group forward,” Day said.

“We are pretty young up the front but I feel like we can do some damage.

“We are not your households names, not many people would know about us but looking forward to it.”