Jarryd Roughead reveals cancer treatment had impact on his football in 2017

JARRYD Roughead may have kicked 38 goals last year, but it was well short of the 70-plus goal seasons he enjoyed in 2013-14. But the Hawthorn star has revealed his cancer treatment had a secret impact on his football.

THE physical toll of Jarryd Roughead’s cancer treatment had a secret impact on his football last year.

The Hawthorn captain on Thursday night revealed he played much of last year with limited feeling in his feet as a result of nerve damage. It also forced him to stop immunotherapy treatment earlier than planned.

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Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead has revealed he played much of last year with limited feeling in his feet. Picture: Michael Klein

Roughead joined some of the world’s leading medical minds at the inaugural Eradicate Cancer conference in Melbourne, as they discussed the possibility immunotherapy may one day make it possible to eliminate cancers.

He credited breakthrough immunotherapy drugs for saving his life.

But the drugs took a huge toll on his health and he had to stop the treatment after just three rounds when his lungs, eyes, liver and finally his feet began shutting down due to critical inflammation.

The loss of nerves in his feet became so bad Roughead had to constantly soak them in water to restore feeling.

“I said to (my doctor) ... ‘If I’m going to get back to playing footy I kind-of need these’,” Roughead said.

“At that point, when there were four different side-effects, he said, ‘You’re pretty full in terms of the drugs, I think’.

Jarryd Roughead has revealed his cancer treatment had a secret impact on his football last year. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

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By September 2016 the drugs had over-stimulated Roughead’s immune cells and they began turning on his body, resulting in a hepatitis-like disease in his liver.

But the treatment had also affected the cancer and in ­December 2016 his body was remarkably free of the disease, just seven months after a ­return of melanoma threatened his life.

When he started pre-season training last year Roughead thought his feet had returned to 90 per cent feeling, but later realised he was having issues.

“I got back and played every game but until the mid-season break some coaches said I was not kicking the ball as well and I did not have the agility I used to have.

“It was probably only the last five or six games last year and this preseason, the coaches are saying I am looking a lot better than at this time last year.

“I would say I was 90-95 per cent to them, but maybe I was only 80-85 per cent.”

Told the nerves grow back 1mm a day, Roughead said his giant frame had done him no favours recovering from the treatment.

But having just become a father — and being told he can look forward to becoming a grandfather — Roughead told the gathering of experts he owes his life to immunotherapy.

“It’s better than any Grand Final I’ve won,” he said.

“Footy is 5 to 10 per cent of my life — this drug has given me 100 per cent.”

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