‘Ironside’ McGovern rose from hospital bed to star for Eagles

Western Australia is today celebrating the birth of a new legend: the tale of Jeremy ‘Ironside’’ McGovern.

Lewis Jetta and Jeremy McGovern lift the premiership trophy before excited West Coast fans in Perth yesterday. Picture: Getty Mages.

Western Australia, a state fabled for its mineral wealth and footballing riches, is today celebrating the birth of a new legend: the tale of Jeremy “Ironside’’ McGovern.

This time last week, McGovern was home in Perth, barely able to walk, let alone run. He’d spent Saturday night and all day Sunday in hospital with severe abdominal pain. The prospect of playing in an AFL grand final in five days’ time felt agonisingly remote.

He not only played; he played a decisive part in one of the most dramatic premierships in recent memory.

It began with what appeared to be no worse than a bruised hip. Early in the Eagles’ preliminary final against the Demons, McGovern was crunched in the side by Christian Petracca. Gored in the hip by Melbourne’s raging bull, he came to the bench but returned later in the match.

It was thought to be no worse than a nasty cork. He’d be sore but football history told us, he would play.

As it turned out, the issue wasn’t McGovern’s hip. Petracca had caught him flush on the hip pointer, an exposed section of the pelvic bone. The bigger problem was that the trauma from that injury had caused McGovern to bleed profusely into the surrounding abdominal muscles.

It wasn’t a dangerous complication but it was excruciating.

By Saturday night, McGovern was doubled over in pain, fearful that he might have sustained internal injuries. He noticed blood in his urine. He was taken to hospital for observation and there he stayed while the club’s medical staff, led by Dr Gerard Taylor, figured out what to do.

Dr Taylor’s primary concern was not whether McGovern would be able to run and leap and intercept marks against Collingwood; it was whether playing a game of football would put his health at risk. He consulted widely, taking advice from Peter Smith, a general surgeon and leading endocrinologist in Perth, a radiologist and other experienced sports doctors.

McGovern was cleared of any damage to internal organs close to the hip; his kidneys, liver and spleen. Smith was satisfied that the bleeding into the abdominal muscles, although painful, did not present a serious health concern. The good news for McGovern was there was a possibility he could play in the grand final.

The bad news was that, to get there, he would need to endure a world of pain.

Amid the bedlam of the winners’ rooms at the MCG on Saturday night, Eagles football manager Craig Vozzo explained that for McGovern to be able to regain the freedom of movement required to play football, he needed to flush out the blood that had clotted inside his abdominal muscles.

“At the start of the week he had a lot of pressure internally,’’ Vozzo said. “He was barely able to walk let alone run. But we were always confident that the more he was able to do, the more he could flush out the blood.

“We were confident we weren’t putting him at risk. It was a question of whether we had enough time where we could get him to a point where he could run and function well enough to play senior footy.’’

McGovern trained up to three times a day, in the pool and on a bike, pushing up his heart rate to speed the body’s natural repair. The sessions were gruelling and lonely. While his teammates trained before adoring fans, McGovern ran his private race against the grand final clock, closely monitored by club physio Stephen Gravina.

“He has got magic hands,’’ McGovern said of Gravina. “He has earned himself a pay rise, that’s for sure.’’

West Coast coach Adam Simpson was confident early in the week that his star defender would be able to take the field against Collingwood. By Friday afternoon, when there was some thought given to McGovern pulling out of the grand final parade through Melbourne’s streets, he wasn’t so sure.

It was only later that afternoon, in a closed session at the MCG, that McGovern was able to train with his teammates for the first time since the Melbourne match. McGovern received a local anaesthetic to numb his hip but still trained in considerable pain.

There is no questioning McGovern’s toughness. As a boy, he learned the game on a red dirt oval in Warburton, WA, an indigenous community on the edge of the Central Desert where his father Andrew, a retired AFL player, worked as a sport and recreation officer.

McGovern was able to complete training on Friday but as he later revealed, the final club decision on whether he would play the next day was “touch and go.’’

“I just didn’t want to let the team down,’’ he said. “I didn’t want to become a burden on the day.’’

For the rest of the West Coast team, McGovern’s appearance at the club’s final training season provided a timely boost. Will Schofield, one of the Eagles’ best players in the grand final, said even if McGovern was half fit, he’d want him alongside him in defence. “You wouldn’t be able to tell but he was bloody sore,’’ he told The Australian. “It was big for our group for him to play.

Tom Barrass, another key figure within the West Coast back six, said he was amazed at how well McGovern was able to play given the extent of his injury.

“It is typical Gov fashion. He dragged himself out on that field and he still managed to play really well.

“I am really proud of what he did today. He really stood up.’’

McGovern and Barrass took 19 marks between them against Collingwood while Schofield was one of the best players afield. The Magpies were restricted to 74 points, which is nearly three goals below their season average.

To complete the Ironside legend, it was McGovern, with under three minutes on the clock, who risked leaving the prodigiously talented Jordan De Goey ungarded near goal to leap high over Brodie Mihocek and claim a crucial mark.

He landed on his feet, played on immediately and began the forward move that resulted in Dom Sheed kicking his premiership-winning goal.

“I knew I had to mark it, I just went for it,’’ he said. “I knew I had to mark it and go.’’