Pain game: Garry Hocking says he doesn’t regret having painkilling injections during his career

GARRY Hocking was determined to continue playing football for as long as humanly possible, no matter what it did to his long-term health.

GARRY Hocking was determined to continue playing football for as long as humanly possible.

Whatever the cost.

No matter what it did to his long-term health, or ability to kick the footy with his children.

Remarkably, 16 years on from that brutal final season as he managed patella tendinitis, the brilliant Cats midfielder has emerged relatively unscathed.

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Hocking, who played 274 games over 15 seasons, would need as many as five painkilling injections to get through a game in his final season.

Now 48 and coaching SANFL club South Adelaide, Hocking said apart from the physical toll it took a debilitating mental toll.

“In my last year I was getting four or five injections just to get through a game,” he said.

“I would have a couple at the start and then at times do the warm-up and (my knee) was still angry,” he said.

Garry Hocking sits in a bath after his last game of AFL football.

“So I would get another one and then one or two at halftime.

“You don’t think long-term when you are playing, you just think about the next training session and next game.

“You weren’t thinking about having kids or kicking the footy with them.

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“It’s not until the doctor taps you on the shoulder or club says you need to think about life after footy that you consider it.”

Hocking said his weekly routine was arduous — especially in those horrible hours after the painkiller wore off.

It became a weekly cycle — doing anything to get up to play then counting the cost for the rest of the week.

“I had tendinitis at the front of my knee and I always had very good advice from people like (orthopedic surgeon) David Young and (club doctor) Hugh Seward.

“Hugh and Bomber (coach Mark Thompson) were very worried I might not be able to do things at 40 and 50, and that’s when they started making me realise there is a life after footy.

“I would struggle to walk the next couple of days after the game — I was having lots of fluid removed.

“Then I was in the backyard pool with a raincoat on trying to get it settled down.

“There were periods where you would say ‘why me?’

“You would struggle to get the mail from the mailbox and couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“But you were like a mouse on a wheel — you would go and see the doc and get it drained, ice it, and then get on the bike to get it moving.

“You would see the other guys out training and that would hurt you, then by Thursday you would unleash the beast again.

“I would do it all again though — I can still run and have a kick and play tennis with my lad so I am OK.

Garry Hocking in action for the Cats.

“You put up with all that risk because you loved the game so much and wanted to just keep playing.”

Dr Seward said he had a hard-line stance on injecting players that meant it was only suitable in the rarest of cases.

“They were most unusual and specific and Garry understood the potential consequences and we followed through on informed consent.

“I followed up with him 10 years later and surprisingly he was doing well and didn’t have any significant adverse consequences.

“They are only for very unusual circumstances and he had that incredibly difficult wear and tear in his knee and wanted to get to his 300th game.”