When it comes to knee injuries, Nine commentator Allana Ferguson is the self-confessed expert.
“I really wish I wasn’t,” she laughed.
The brutal reality of rugby league was laid bare on the weekend, with Parramatta winger Haze Dunster’s season officially ended two weeks before the opening round of the competition.
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Dunster suffered a relatively rare trifecta of knee injuries, with the Eels confirming he’s ruptured the anterior, medial and posterior ligaments (ACL, MCL and PCL).
It’s an injury that Ferguson knows only too well, having done it twice herself. In a rare bit of good news for Dunster, Ferguson confirmed that in her experience, the extra damage didn’t result in any extra time on the sideline.
“Once you’ve done your ACL, the rehab and the return to play remains the same, even if you’ve also done your MCL and PCL,” she told Wide World of Sports.
“When you hear you’ve done your ACL it’s devastating, because you know it’s going to be a long time out of the game.
“It’s going to be 9-12 months of rehab, but there’s the prehab you can do that will set you up, the stuff you do before the operation.
“I’ve done all three twice, but the recovery for the MCL and PCL isn’t as extensive as the ACL.
“The only thing that can impact your recovery is the amount of meniscus damage, because that can put you into a brace, which can set you back after your operation by about six weeks.
“The meniscus can have an impact, but when you’re looking at a 9-12 month recovery it’s not massive in the overall scheme of things. It’s about getting your head right and being prepared to do the work.”
All up, Ferguson suffered four serious knee injuries during her career, and explained that the 48 hours after the injury were always the hardest.
“For me, I always took a couple of days to be by myself, because it’s heartbreaking,” she said.
“It’s everything you love that’s been stripped away from you, and it’s a really long journey.
“I needed those couple of days to be by myself to deal with it. But then I’d get my pen and paper out and write down where I wanted to be at the end of it.
“There was a couple of days when I was sad that it had been taken away, but never for much longer than a couple of days, because otherwise it impacts on you coming back better than ever, which is what you want to do.”
Dunster will now spend 2022 watching his Eels teammates from the sideline, but the winger, who turns 23 next week, still has many years in front of him.
But an NRL career can end before you know it, which is why Ferguson is advising Dunster to use this year wisely.
“It’s actually a good opportunity to work on other elements of your game, or your career, and where you want to be in life outside of footy,” she noted.
“The first time I did my ACL I was only 15, but by the second time I’d matured a bit. I found that time on the sideline a great learning curve for other areas of my game.
“You can see so much more from the sideline than you can from the field.
“It’s about getting your mind right and identifying areas where you can put your energy, areas where you can’t spend much time when you’re actually playing because you’re going from one training session to the next, and one game to the next and all of a sudden the season is over.”
With Maika Sivo also sidelined for an extended period of time, it leaves a hole in the Eels backline that will be hard to fill.
“It takes a lot of the x-factor out of their side,” Ferguson said.
“But the season hasn’t started yet, so we might see some exciting new talent from Parramatta in their absence.
“For Haze, you know it’s going to be a long journey, but it’s about ticking the boxes along the way and trying to enjoy the journey as much as you can.
“An injury like this could be devastating, he’ll be heartbroken now, but it’s about resetting your mind and focusing on coming back bigger, better and stronger.”
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