KEY forward Eric Hipwood is staring at eight weeks of doing not much after playing the final two months of Brisbane's premiership season with osteitis pubis.
Hipwood played as a key defender in the Lions' round 20 win over Gold Coast and then missed two matches as the debilitating groin injury took hold.
He returned against Collingwood in round 23 and has not looked the same player that was in red-hot form following Brisbane's mid-season bye.
However, with the help of physiotherapists, doctors and his coaches, Hipwood gritted his teeth to play a vital role in helping his team to win a flag.
"It's obviously hindered me a little bit," Hipwood told AFL.com.au in Brisbane's jubilant dressing-room.
"It was essentially osteitis pubis, that's what it is.
"It's just with the power, the strength when kicking the footy at some stages I was struggling.
"As time went on, I started to get a bit better with medicine and stuff like that."
The 27-year-old Brisbane Academy graduate said he had to go back to basics when returning to the team.
Unable to run as well as normal and losing distance in his prodigious left boot, Hipwood narrowed his focus.
"I had to go back to the simple things, making my opponent accountable," he said.
"If I wasn't influencing the game, I didn't want my opponent influencing the game. It was pretty simple.
"The next eight weeks doesn’t look like much for me.
"We'll have another scan through the week and go from there, but I think it's just time off legs."
Hipwood, who was drafted in 2015, said rising from rock bottom to the top made the triumph even sweeter.
"It's really, really special to go through the Academy from 12 years old to now.
"What I'm even prouder of is when I got to the club we were bottom of the ladder and we were able to rebuild.
"We had our coach sacked, we had our GM sacked, Greg Swann was able to stay the course, we've had so much stability on our board, which has helped us players a ton.
"This is amazing."
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