Eh.
I can think of a few.
Cox won’t win two Brownlows.
I will put this is my book of the great Wim Predictions and look down upon you from above in ten years time and cast my judgement.
While I can sneer at your spelling and mixed metaphor immediately.
2 Likes
Essendon 2021: Bomber Michael Hurley has hip surgery in a bid to play AFL in 2022
Essendon veteran Michael Hurley has had a hip joint replaced in an ambitious bid to squeeze another year out of his 193-game career.
The popular Bomber, who turns 32 in June, lost more than 10kg this year and failed to play a game after battling a severe leg infection.
Hurley was bedridden for weeks and was hospitalised twice as he struggled to shake the debilitating bug - a condition that has resulted in people losing limbs.
The joint replacement surgery three weeks ago was seen as his only hope of playing football at AFL level again.
“The operation basically gives him a chance,” Essendon general manager of football Josh Mahoney told the Herald Sun. “Without the operation, he wouldn’t have been a chance.”
Hurley was back at the club last week and has begun his arduous rehabilitation program in the pool.
The Bombers would not put a time frame on his against-the-odds efforts to return to full-time training or senior football.
They said the two-time All Australian was now “pain-free” for the first time since the injury flared at the start of this year.
“Michael has been managing a degenerative hip for many years and after the infection earlier this year it became quite symptomatic with everyday life, not just playing football,” Mahoney said.
“It got to the stage where for him to give himself the best chance later in life, and also to give him the best chance to return to playing AFL, that was the best course of action really.
“Recovery will be slow and Michael and the club’s main priority is his long-term hip health.
“Having said that, the goal is to restore normal hip function and - all going well - resume his AFL career.
“He is now walking around pain-free, which he hasn’t experienced for a long period of time.”
Joint replacement surgery in the hip involves removing damaged or diseased sections of the body and replacing them with artificial parts. It is more common in retired athletes and elder people.
Hurley, who is contracted for next year, played his last game in round 18, 2020, and he remains seven matches shy of his 200-game milestone.
The loyal defender stuck with the Bombers after being banned for the entire 2016 season as part of the Essendon 34 and the club’s supplement saga.
Mahoney said it had been another hard year on Hurley.
“To see from when he first got the infection and the amount of weight that he lost and it was pretty tough for everyone to look at that stage,” Mahoney said.
He said it remained unclear how Hurley contracted the infection.
“It’s hard to track,” he said. “There are different ways, it can be a cut, it can be a blister, he had some dental work done, it can be an operation.”
Mahoney said Hurley was already feeling better about his comeback efforts.
“It is going to be a slow recovery but it will be based on the different stages he goes through,” Mahoney said.
“First of all, it is just about being mobile and working in the pool and walking and then gradually up to running.
“So it will just be a step-by-step process, working through that and then eventually he will start training.
“We will keep assessing it along the way.”
Aside from Hurley’s operation, the Bombers expect Harrison Jones (foot surgery) and Zach Reid (back stress fracture) to be the only other players facing a delayed start to the pre-season.
“The expectation at this stage is we will have Harry Jones still recovering, slightly delayed and Zach Reid slightly delayed,” Mahoney said.
“But apart from those two and Hurls, everyone else will be in full training from the start which is really pleasing.
9 Likes
Wowsers! 
After reading that can’t help but thinking that trying to play AFL again maybe isn’t the best option. If it’s what Hurls wants though then good luck to him, he deserves to be given every opportunity to make it back.
3 Likes
Can’t see anybody being able to run and jump at 100% after hip replacement, in fact even saying that sentence feel ridiculous. Will be a miracle if he can, and wish he could have another season, but feel sad for Hurls.
Yeah yikes. Has anyone in the AFL had a hip replacement and played again?
Hope he can be a first! Most people who have hip replacement are too old to even play AFL Evolution on PS4 competitively…
1 Like
You can get there, but it’s a very, very long road. Maybe more than a year.
Courtney Johns possibly? Maybe Majak Daw?
Running is not recommended on a replacement hip due to the impact. That was the only physical activity that is advised against though.
However after recovery, mobility is better than pre-surgery as the hip joint actually functions as it is meant too.
With hip replacement surgery, they actually have you walking ON THE DAY of the operation. It is unbelievable.
However depending on the route of entry for cutting, it can take six months of rehab to build up to close to full strength. As I understand it the rehab has a big impact on recovery of explosive energy.
Source for this is my wife, who had hip replacement in her 40s a couple of years ago.
Good luck Hurls, you will be so much better with the new hip. But if I were him I would call quits on the career rather than risk a compromised recovery by trying to rush it.
6 Likes
Reading that article, I’m not convinced the journalist hasn’t made a mistake.
If he has genuinely had a hip replacement, he ain’t playing again. Take that to the bank.
1 Like
Can confirm my gran never played AFL after her bilateral hips (at age 70), let alone after she wore out an implant at about 80.
4 Likes
Well she didn’t have the advantages of a fully equiped AFL medical team. Ruined any chance she had at a debut game.
2 Likes
Think I heard somewhere the hip surgery is similar to what Andy Murray had in tennis. He is back playing. But I think Hurls will be happy just to play 1 more final game
I got the impression he’d only had part of the joint replaced.
I’d like to see Bryan and Draper in the side with Wright becoming a permanent forward. I wish we saw more of Bryan as a forward in the VFL. Ideally he’ll eventually develop into a Luke Jackson-type player.
1 Like
OK, so a hip resurfacing as opposed to a full replacement. Makes far more sense.
Will still be pushing a whole lot of ■■■■ uphill to get back on the field though.
1 Like
A hip resurfacing?
Definitely sounds like something out of a home renovation show.
Makes me fear for Hurley’s football future.