Passing the Torch is a new spin-off podcast series under the Credit to the Girls umbrella. It profiles the young players of the AFL Women's competition who will be at the forefront of the league over the next 10 years. Episodes can be listened to via the traditional Credit to the Girls feed, wherever you get your podcasts. 

IN A SPLIT-SECOND of inattention, the second AFLW season of Lucy McEvoy's 2022 was nearly wiped out before it began.

A month before the first bounce of season seven, Carlton released a statement saying McEvoy had suffered a shoulder injury, needed surgery and would be eyeing off a return in the middle of the season.

But the actual reason behind the shoulder injury was shrouded in mystery, club officials refusing to share even off-the-record what had happened, save that it was an above-board, non-football incident.

Having made the move to Sydney over the off-season, McEvoy has now pulled back the curtain.

"It was the middle of the day on a Monday and I tripped on a curb," McEvoy said.

"It's so common, but to do that much damage tripping on a curb – I tried to grab a tree as I fell. It just wrenched it back and I got up and I could still lift it above my head and move it around. I thought it was just a stinger-kind of a thing, because you don't think you could do that kind of damage just tripping on a curb, like who does that? Of course I do.

"We just thought it was nothing major, but I (gradually) couldn't lift it at all, not because it was sore, but it was stuck. It was so weird.

"So, lesson learned, don't text and walk, same as don't text and drive."

The resulting scans revealed "a pretty good job, damage-wise". A torn labrum (the stabilising cartilage that sits in the shoulder socket and provides attachment points for ligaments), "ripped off" other cartilage, and a chip at the top of the humerus bone.

McEvoy underwent surgery, and incredibly, returned in time for round one and played out the entire season.

"The pre-season was very different, in terms of I didn't spend a lot of time on the track with the girls, I think I spent – after surgery – four weeks on the bike inside. Then even after that, it was a lot of work away from the main group. I'd be in the skill drills, but the contact drills was always pulled out to do contact on the side," McEvoy said.

"It was tracking really well, and I was really lucky that it was healing quite well and I wasn't having too many hiccups with it. The last test, they were like, 'if you pass this, you can play'. It was nothing like out of the ordinary of what we'd been doing. 

"But I remember Liam, who was one of our rehab guys at Carlton at the time, he was hitting me harder than I'd get hit in the game and I was thinking, this is unrealistic, I don't ever get hit this hard, but made it through the test. 

"Obviously I wasn't expecting probably to play round one myself, and it wasn't until two or three weeks prior that it maybe was a possibility. 

"I was just really lucky that my shoulder healed quite quickly, which is nice, but I had a few issues with it throughout the season, with it coming in and out (of the socket), but yeah, managed to make it through 10 games somehow."

EPISODE GUIDE

0.48 – Moving interstate over the off-season
4.58 – Playing in a junior footy team with Liv Purcell and Nina Morrison
9.12 – Debuting amid the chaos of 2020
11.58 – The pros and cons of versatility across lines
16.28 – The shoulder injury
21.20 – Leaving Carlton and moving to Sydney
27.40 – Remaining in the same off-field job across states
29.58 – Leadership with McEvoy