Fresh details of Callum Mills’ Mad Monday come to light, injury news gets worse

Fresh details of Callum Mills’ Mad Monday antics have been revealed with the star’s injury news going from bad to worse.

Mills could miss an extended period of time. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The news has gone from bad to worse for Sydney Swans co-captain Callum Mills.

Mills suffered a serious mishap during the club’s Mad Monday celebrations that resulted in him going under the knife for shoulder surgery.

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He was originally listed as a chance to miss the opening game of the 2024 season after the wrestling injury.

The news however got worse on Wednesday after fresh details emerged of the Mad Monday antics along with an injury update from SEN journalist Tom Morris which noted he could miss the entirety of the 2024 season.

“Mills has ruptured his rotator cuff - torn it from the bone. This can be 9-12 months,” Morris wrote on X.

“He was mucking around with Jacob Konstanty when the injury occurred. It was innocuous at the time. Teammates didn’t even notice.”

Mills could miss an extended period of time. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Fellow SEN reporter Sam Edmund noted the Swans star is no chance to be taking the field for the season opener as he shed further light on the incident.

“This is going to be a big story as it unfolds. It’s a disaster. This is a serious shoulder injury for Callum Mills,” Edmund told SEN Breakfast on Wednsday.

“Definitely going to miss Round 1 and I’m told if this (had happened in) March, he most likely wouldn’t play for the year.

“They’re in an establishment in the city of Sydney – a friend of the club, so it’s a private function, no one knows they’re there – and things sort of escalated as they do. There’s a wrestle with a teammate, a few wrestles, the co-captain has got himself into a situation where he’s seriously hurt his shoulder but at the time, I’m told, he’s unaware of the gravity (of his injury).

“The club didn’t know, he didn’t know for several more days after that the seriousness of it. They’ve gone in, got it checked out … and it’s a serious shoulder injury for the co-captain of the club in a setting that you certainly wouldn’t expect something like that to happen of this severity.

“This is why Charlie Gardner obviously has used words like ‘extremely disappointed’, because it’s rocked the club and it seriously upset the club too.

“He’s had that operation last week, he’s now in rehab and it’s going to be a long rehab.”

Fresh details came to light on Thursday. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The Swans released a statement late on Tuesday evening confirming the news with reports the club was not pleased with the reasons behind the incident.

“Losing players to injury in the off-season is always upsetting,” Swans football manager Charlie Gardiner said in the statement.

“Callum is our captain and an important member of the squad. We are extremely disappointed this injury has occurred.

“Callum is equally disappointed, as you can imagine, but he is recovering well and will get to work on his rehabilitation immediately.”

Elevated to co-captain alongside Luke Parker and Dane Rampe, Mills played in 20 matches for the Swans this season.

He missed four matches in the middle of the year due to a calf complaint, returning in round 15 as the Swans made a late charge towards the finals after a horror first half of the year.

Mills led the Swans onto the MCG for their elimination final against Carlton on 8 September, which ended with a six-point defeat.

It is likely the club had its traditional Mad Monday celebrations on the following Monday, 11 September.

Head of Football maybe disappointed but I’m bloody angry! After the fooling around foot injury causing him to miss months we now have the fooling around broken shoulder. Doesn’t deserve to be Captain. 🤬😡🤬

— Uncommon Tweeter (@cignicigni) September 26, 2023

Mills is not a stranger to unusual injuries impacting his footy career.

In May 2018, Mills was throwing a mini American football around with teammates in the Moore Park precinct by the SCG following training when he tripped and fell.

He broke a bone on the outside of his foot which coach John Longmire described at the time as “a really unfortunate accident”.

Coming after the club’s round nine win over Fremantle that year, Mills was forced to miss the rest of that season.

Originally published as Fresh details of Callum Mills’ Mad Monday come to light, injury news gets worse