Ben McEvoy opens up on the horror neck injury he suffered after a training incident

It was the massive crunch that floored one of the AFL’s giants. Ben McEvoy was on the ground in pain and had no function of his right arm. And his mind was racing to some dark places.

Ben McEvoy’s first instinct after hearing the “massive crunch” in his neck was to try to wiggle his fingers and toes.

He knew if he could do that, at least the unthinkable hadn’t happened.

The much loved, respected Hawthorn captain had just been floored in an innocuous training accident at Waverley in late March.

He had been “clipped in the wrong spot” by a teammate’s hip, and as he was lying on the ground being attended to by medical staff, his future briefly flashed before his eyes.

Speaking in detail for the first time about the neck fracture that sidelined him for the first half of the season, the 33-year-old told the Herald Sun of the thoughts that ran through his head.

“It was a massive crunch … you know the sound when your neck cracks,” McEvoy said.

“I knew straight away there was a problem. I had the first couple of seconds where it was like, ‘OK, can I wiggle my fingers and toes?’”

“I thought, ‘OK, I can wiggle my fingers and toes, thank God’.

Watch every blockbuster AFL match this weekend Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Ben McEvoy is back on the field after a horror neck injury. Picture: Getty Images

“I was thinking, ‘Hopefully that (crunch) was the joints popping out and not bones breaking’.”

He was to find out later “it was a bit of both”.

Four months on, and three games into his AFL comeback, he couldn’t be more relieved or thankful for those who supported him.

He figures he was unlucky it happened, but lucky he didn’t have a worse outcome.

“In those first few days I couldn’t really say it like that (broken neck), just because it sounded more dramatic than I thought it needed to be,” he said.

“I would say ‘I’ve broken a small bone in the side of my neck’ instead of saying ‘I’ve broken my neck’.”

But as he prepares to play game 249 against his former side St Kilda, he couldn’t be more grateful for the support he received.

He couldn’t be more thankful to his wife, Nicki, who will have the couple’s fourth child in October and their kids (Angus, 5, Moira 4 and Clancy 2).

He cites coach Sam Mitchell, his teammates, the medical staff and physios, and rehabilitation coordinator Jack Price, with key roles in his return.

Asked if he considered giving the game away, he said: “If anything, my thought was, ‘No way, I’m not ready to have played my last game of AFL football.”

THE INCIDENT

WHILE he could wiggle his fingers and toes, McEvoy initially lost full function in his right arm.

“It wasn’t like I couldn’t move it, but it was just delayed,” he said. “It was almost like I was drunk … because the nerve was smashed.”

Mitchell offered to ring his wife as the big ruckman lay on the ground.

“I said ‘Hell no’,” McEvoy said. “No one at the time knew she was pregnant, other than the coach. I didn’t want to create any undue stress. I texted her afterwards and said: ‘I am OK, but I am going in for some scans’.”

For a time he thought he had dodged any significant issues as he walked back to the rooms.

“Once I got some (medication) and got moving, I thought maybe I am going to be OK.

“An hour later I was thinking I might still play that week.”

All that changed when he arrived at Box Hill Hospital for scans.

“I rang Nicki on the way home and told her I had a broken neck,” he said.

“It was (the) C7 … basically you have your main vertebrae, little wings that stick out the side overlap and give you stability … (it) sort of snapped.”

An X-ray of Hawthorn ruckman Ben McEvoy's neck. McEvoy fractured the C7 vertebrae in an accidental collision with a teammate at training. Picture: Supplied

RECOVERY

McEVOY stressed he isn’t the first person to have dealt with injury hardship.

“Plenty have had a lot worse than I have,” he said.

“How many people break their neck and come away with all their limbs working?”

But he acknowledges the difficulties he and his wife Nicki endured in the early stages, saying his wife was incredible.

“I was very sore in the neck … the second and third weeks was when I got the nerve pain.”

“Overnight, I was getting nerve pain down my arm, sometimes it would be like it was burning, other times I would wake up scratching my arms.

“At the start Nicki was so unwell (with morning sickness) that I was having to cook tea for the kids because she would throw up at the smell of meat.

“We had some challenging and interesting times.”

McEvoy and the Hawthorn medical staff consulted with specialists, but he did not require surgery. He did however have to wear a neck brace for what turned out to be 12 weeks.

“It was a stable fracture and everything was aligned,” he said. “They had the (neck) brace to make sure there wasn’t any unnecessary pressure on that bit of bone and that joint, to make sure it stayed in the right place and healed.”

He was originally told the brace would be on for six weeks.

“I went back to the specialist (to get it off after six weeks) and he said: ‘Everything is going perfect … Now (you need) another six weeks’. I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

McEvoy thought he may never play football again after his neck injury. Picture: Getty Images

THE ROAD BACK

McEVOY’S right arm showed few signs of improvement in the first month.

“I always intended to play again,” he said. “But as a self defence mechanism … I considered it (the idea that he had played his last game).

“It wasn’t just the broken neck; it was the nerve damage that was going to prove an issue in getting back playing this year.

“I had between four and five weeks where it didn’t change. I was at about 20 to 25 per cent capacity in my right arm, not all the muscles, but the tricep and the pec(toral).

“Because the nerve had been bruised and damaged, the messages couldn’t get through properly, so those muscles weren’t working properly. That flatlined in the first four or five weeks. It wasn’t until we saw improvement … that we thought ‘We’re on the road now’.”

McEvoy worked closely with the club’s rehabilitation coordinator Jack Price.

“We worked really hard doing exercises multiple times every day to keep those muscles going, to reactivate those nerve pathways,” he said.

“Once we started to get some reward for effort, things started to get easier.”

THE MEETING

McEVOY was back on the bike within two weeks, running on the Alter-G at four weeks and running outside at six weeks.

His competitive instincts kicked in. He and his support team raised the sights.

“It was like ‘Let’s start looking not at the things I can’t do, but the things I can do’, and make sure that when I get out of this neck brace and the bone is healed to an extent that it is ready for AFL football, that the rest of my body is ready for AFL football too’.”

A CT-scan at seven weeks confirmed the bone was “healing nicely”.

“We had a meeting with our medical guys … we consulted the specialists and tailored a program to target that (return) date,” he said. “Initially, the advice I was given was that it would be four months (out); it ended up being 14 weeks.”

Part of the consensus was that McEvoy had to get through three full training sessions before playing. After the first session he felt so good he wondered if they were being too cautious.

But they stuck to the plan.

McEvoy made his AFL return for the Round 17 clash against Adelaide.

He felt great physically, thanks to the conditioning team, but felt like “a headless chook (from a football perspective) … I was playing in my second game under a new coach with an entirely new game plan”.

“The next week we got back to the MCG and it was wet and I was like ‘this is the sort of game that I understand’.”

Ben McEvoy with his son Clancy after the Hawks beat the Eagles. Picture: Getty Images

THE FUTURE

McEVOY is enjoying his football now as much as ever.

“When you get something taken away from you for a period of time, you appreciate it more,” he said. “I cherish every (game).”

He has always had great perspective about his football and family, but even more so now.

His first 91 games came with St Kilda; his next 157 have been with the Hawks.

“I’m grateful to St Kilda for giving me my first opportunity and thankful for them entertaining the idea of me coming to Hawthorn (in late 2013),” he said.

“Gee, it has worked out well for me.”

McEvoy has two premiership medals as a part of the Hawks’ 2014 and 2015 winning sides.

Now he is closing in on a 250-game milestone.

“I remember playing my 200th game and thinking ‘how good has this game been to me’. I’d already played in a couple of premierships back then.

“250 seemed a long way away then.

“This club has been great to me. I’ve had three kids in my time here and I’ve had the enormous privilege of captaining the club.”

His thoughts now are not on himself, but on the young group he is helping to fast-track.

“No matter what industry you are in, as you get older, it becomes less about ourselves and more about the team,” he said.

“I have really enjoyed the development of the young guys. I’ve been the grandpa of the group, but I love those dynamics.

“It really excites me to come to work with these young guys and see them develop. We are on the right path.

“I am very lucky in my life. I have a young family, I’ve got plenty going on in my life and I’ve still got an ability to have an influence around this place.

“I know what is coming next (farming on his and Nicki’s property). But I’m cherishing every moment of the (footy) journey and hopefully will be able to continue that for some time.”

Ben McEvoy features in a new book The Three-Peat: History Of The Hawthorn Football Club 2009-2021. Get your copy now at hawksmerchandise.com.au/3-peat/