Fellow broken leg victim Gary Rohan warns Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell is in for a ‘long road’
New Geelong forward Gary Rohan says he “nearly gave up” in his bid to return to football after a badly broken leg and has warned star Hawk Tom Mitchell is in for a very long and tough recovery process after he broke his leg at training.
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Geelong forward Gary Rohan says he “nearly gave up” in his bid to return to football after a broken leg and has warned reigning Brownlow Medal winner Tom Mitchell is in for a “long road” ahead after suffering the same fate.
Hawthorn has confirmed Mitchell suffered a broken leg at training on Friday as the Hawks returned to the track following a three-week Christmas break.
The 25-year-old will have surgery this weekend and is expected to miss the 2019 season.
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A former teammate of Mitchell’s at Sydney, Rohan said he would offer any support he could when the time was right, well aware of what Mitchell would be going through.
“I’ll wait a couple of days and I’ll give him a buzz and see how he is,” Rohan told the Herald Sun.
“But anyone who has broken legs, I know what they’re going through. So I’m feeling for him and if he needs a bit of help with anything I’m always here for him. He’s a good bloke.”
Rohan broke his right leg against North Melbourne in Round 4, 2012 as a result of a Lindsay Thomas slide tackle and did not return to the field until Round 21 the following year — 483 days later.
Rohan said the long and difficult rehabilitation process almost got the better of him, with many dark times spent training alone.
“I nearly missed two years of footy, which is a good chunk,” Rohan said.
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“All the physio, running, a lot of to-yourself time. So you really learn if you can push yourself or not and a couple of times I nearly gave up. But the boys at the Swans and the coaches were bloody awesome so they kept me going. It was more Rhyce Shaw who got me going which was good. But it’s a very long road on your own if there’s no one else in rehab, especially when the boys won the 2012 granny that year. It even hurt even more.”
Rohan said Mitchell’s news was all the more shattering given his amazing 2018 season in which he won the Brownlow Medal, Hawthorn’s best-and-fairest, the AFL Players’ Association MVP award and was an All-Australian for the second consecutive year.
“I was reading the newspapers the other day and he said he thought he was going to go even better again which would have been exciting to watch,” Rohan said.
“But no doubt he’ll be back soon enough and having more 50-plus touch games and running amok.”
Rohan famously sought out Western Bulldogs broken leg victim Mitch Wallis in the hours before the 2016 Grand Final, Wallis missing that match with a broken leg he sustained in Round 18 that year.
“He put his arm around me and asked how I was going,” Wallis said.
“He had every right to be focused and concerned about playing a Grand Final, but he took the time out of his preparation. I’ll always remember that.”
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