NBL23: South East Melbourne Phoenix star Craig Moller details horror knee injury that left him sidelined for 17 months
There have been a few twists in the career of Craig Moller who, had things gone differently, could’ve been preparing for an AFL pre-season. Instead, he’s the NBL’s comeback story of the year.
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When Craig Moller crashed to the court and looked down to see his kneecap had shifted up his leg on top of his quad muscle, images of former Sydney Swan Daryn Cresswell’s stomach-churning dislocation raced through his mind.
“I had that vision of him whacking it to get it back in,” Moller said, recalling the horror April 2022 injury he suffered while playing for German club Wurzburg.
“But I was moving my kneecap around so I thought ‘something’s not quite right’ because I pushed it down and it just came straight back up.”
The South East Melbourne Phoenix forward’s injury, though, was so much worse than Cresswell’s 1997 dislocation, which made national headlines and has almost 100,000 views on YouTube.
There was no contact, but his left kneecap had shattered in an injury similar to that suffered by Melbourne Storm superstar Ryan Papenhuyzen in July, 2022.
Surgeons in Germany used wire to reassemble the fragments of bone but, five months later, with no real improvement, scans confirmed the worst: “it had completely come apart” — again.
“People probably don’t realise how bad it was,” the former Fremantle Dockers ruckman said.
“They’re long injuries, it’s a hard area for the bone to fuse. I had to go through the whole thing a second time.
“Literally, from October to March I was in a leg brace on crutches. I was basically in bed, I couldn’t even do upper-body weights because I couldn’t stress my quad.”
Surgery, this time, was back home in Sydney and rehab was guided under the watchful eye of Kings physiotherapist Dave Hillard, someone Moller had come to trust in his four seasons with the club.
Papenhuyzen’s injury was described at the time as, ‘one of the most brutal in NRL history’ and Hillard even got in touch with the Storm to compare notes, giving Moller added confidence he was on the right path.
It took 17 months to get back on the court — “I didn’t touch a basketball for a year” — and he’s excited to be doing it back in Australia with a Phoenix squad that has designs on the NBL title.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Moller, 29, had planned a return to Europe with hopes of linking with a big Euroleague club, but, after turning down several overtures from South East Melbourne, new coach Mike Kelly managed to twist the dreadlocked giant’s arm.
“It was just right place, right time, I’ve known Mike for many years,” Moller said of Kelly, who was an assistant on the United team that Moller helped win the 2018 NBL title.
“I kept saying no to a lot of things but the rehab kept getting longer and it got to almost August and I still wasn’t ready.
“The goal for me was and still is to play Euroleague and having a German passport can help with that but, whether I get there or not, I don’t know. I was probably not that far away, Had I not got injured. I was in talks with some bigger teams.
“Mike text me and then we spoke about what he was trying to do and he said ‘I know you want to be in Europe but I think coming here can really benefit you’.
“It’s a really good opportunity for me to find my feet and I know there’s going to be some challenges throughout the season, I can’t help that, but I trust that Mike will do what’s in my best interest.
“We’ve talked about our defensive identity and I think the guys have bought into it, myself, Matt Kenyon’s the same, Ben Ayre, he’s a bit more offensive, but he’ll get up the court, Gorjok (Gak), so that’s the mindset we’re trying to build here.
“I hope I can be part of a great season here, I love Melbourne, I really like this club and I’m open to anything.”
The Phoenix (5-4) had a four-game winning streak snapped by Brisbane on Thursday night, but have an opportunity to bounce back on Sunday against Cairns
NO REGRETS, BUT...
It’s well-documented Moller is part of an exclusive club — the AFL’s one-game wonders.
Drafted by the Dockers in 2013, the Sutherland-born boy made his debut in Round 23 of the same season when he was a late-in for Garrick Ibbotson. Named as the sub against St Kilda, Moller was injected into the contest early when Clancee Pearce went down with an Achilles injury.
He finished with five touches — four contested — and three hit-outs at Melbourne’s Etihad — now Marvel — Stadium.
At the end of 2015, without adding to his senior tally, Moller was delisted.
“I think there will always be a little bit of that fire and chip on my shoulder I never got the chance to show that I could have made it, which I fully believe I would have,” he said.
“I was a ruckman and I got delisted at 21, I was lean, big guys take time and I needed to put on size, but I had the drive to make it.”
An off-season holiday in Europe changed the course of his sporting career for good.
“We landed in Barcelona and I went to the Nike shop, bought a basketball and took it with me everywhere — still have photos of my friends and I on outdoor courts in Barcelona and Paris,” he said.
“I probably still had some potential (AFL) opportunities but I just thought ‘maybe I should try basketball again’.”
The decision to swap the Sherrin for the round ball was crystallised in 2017 when he was part of a Melbourne United squad that pushed Oklahoma City to within one-point as part of the league’s NBLxNBA pre-season initiative.
“We’re in OKC, just played against Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George, I’ve played for the Boomers, won an NBL championship and played in Europe — none of that would have happened, had I not chosen basketball over footy,” Moller, who had four points and a couple of rebounds in the 86-85 loss to the Thunder and finished +1 in his 13 minutes on the Chesapeake Energy Arena — now Paycom Center — court.
“Do I miss footy? No, not at all, I love playing basketball — but that always annoys me just a little bit knowing that I gave away that opportunity.”
NBA MAN’S DEPARTURE OPENED DOOR
NBA fans will remember Steve Blake, a little angry ant who played 13 seasons in the big league, with eight clubs, the majority with Portland (three stints) and the LA Lakers.
But maybe not as many will remember his stint with the Sydney Kings as a replacement for axed American point guard Michael Bryson.
The 36-year-old lasted nine games before returning to the US — and that gave Moller his first real NBL chance.
“I was a development player under Gazey (then Kings-coach Andrew Gaze) and there was a bit of turmoil, Steve came in for Michael Bryson,” Moller said.
“He was a great bloke but I think he wanted to get back to the NBA and saw this as an opportunity. By that stage, he was 36 and I think he probably realised it wasn’t going to happen and when he left I played the last seven games of the season.”
A MATESHIP THAT TRANSCENDS SPORT
Moller cherishes the friendships he made in footy, among them a young Alex Pearce — now Dockers captain.
Pearce, drafted the year after Moller, was among those who joined him on that life-defining Euro trip and they’re still best mates.
“He wants me to play for the JackJumpers because he’s a Tassie boy and I reckon he might try to buy them one day.
“But do not get him on a basketball court, he’d be a good hustler, but he cannot hit the side of a barn.
“We’ve got outside interests that align but, with him being captain, we talk leadership and our sports and we have a lot of similarities — he broke his leg twice, so we’ve both been through injury struggles.”
MELBOURNE CITY MOLLER?
Spending nearly a year-and-a-half on the sidelines, Moller has had ample time to contemplate his future.
He’s in the process of commerce and arts degrees and is drawn to the regiment and responsibility of firefighting, post hoops.
“It’s unbelievable how happy I am, just the mental refresh,” he said.
“The time off has helped get rid of a few niggles, but you have to think about the future.
“The wheels have started turning a little bit, I’ll be 30 next year but hopefully I’ve got a few good basketball years left.”
He might have played Australian rules and basketball at the highest level, but it turns out the Liverpool fan’s favourite sport to watch is actually football.
“In Germany, I was about an hour from Frankfurt and went to a few Eintracht Frankfurt games,” he said.
“So does Melbourne City need a big centre forward? I’ll get my head to a few.
“In the off-season, I’m going down for a trial, tell them to hit me up.”
He gives a wry smile and giggle, but the glint in his eye gives you the sense he’s only half joking.
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