Injured Essendon midfielder Brent Prismall admitted he wasfrustrated after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament for a second timeagainst Collingwood in round 19.
The midfielder sustained his first ACL tear whilst playingfor Geelong against St Kilda in the 2008 qualifying final.
It was a shattering blow for Prismall who was trying toestablish himself in a star-studded midfield.
He asked to be traded to Essendon, who gave up pick 39(Steven Motlop), to gain more opportunities at senior level.
While he did spend some time in the reserves, he was juststarting to find form in Essendon’s improving midfield when the injury struck.
But that all came crashing down against the Magpies when hetried to take off after the ball and collapsed to the ground in a seeminglyinnocuous incident.
He said he knew instantly what his fate was.
“I knew it was pretty serious by the way it felt, [I felt] probablymore frustration at the start,” Prismall said.
“You wonder why it happened to me, injuries are a part of[footy] and some blokes have none and some blokes have a few, but I’ve had afew serious ones that have been out of my control.”
The 25-year-old said going through the process a second timewould be easier to deal with.
“In some ways I’m better off because I know what’s coming,”he said.
“It’s also given me a chance to do things differently and doa better rehabilitation in that way.”
Prismall said his knees are stronger than what they werebefore the operations, but acknowledged, in talking with the surgeon, he wasmore pre-disposed to the injury than most other people.
“Once you’ve had the operation [on the knee, genetic issues]pretty much out of the window. My knees are better than they were five or sixyears ago before I had the knee reconstruction.”
“I don’t know that much about it, but it’s an interestingidea that some blokes are more susceptible than others.”
Prismall said he never considered LARS surgery, andapproaching his rehabilitation positively was all part of the process.
“While it’s not ideal, it’s reality, so I’ve just had to getmy head around doing the rehab and making sure I’m right for [the start of nextseason],” he said.
Prismall said dealing with injuries was one of the mostdifficult things to overcome in football.
“When you’re on the bike or you’re swimming by yourself andthe other boys are out on the track, it’s difficult at times,” he said.
“But there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, it’sdefinitely one of the harder things in our game - dealing with injuries.”
The Bombers have suffered three ACL injuries this season, withJason Winderlich and Courtney Dempsey both injured during the first half of thegame against Carlton in round four.
Prismall said they all understood what each other were goingthrough, so it was important to share their experiences.
“I was pretty sympathetic when Jason Winderlich and CourtneyDempsey both did their knees,” he said.
“They’re both going really well. We’re always bouncing ideasoff each other, I suppose it’s not a good thing that we’ve got so manyinjuries, but that’s one of the positives that we can help each other getthrough it.”
