THE STORY of St Kilda skipper Jarryn Geary's compartment syndrome ordeal, which saw him undergo three surgeries in a week in the wake of the round five win against Melbourne, is well known.

What hasn't been revealed is that his teammate Josh Bruce endured an almost identical night after the stirring win.

The 26-year-old explained all ahead of Sunday afternoon's clash with Port Adelaide at Adelaide Arena at Jiangwan Stadium.

BATTLE SCARS Saints skipper reveals lasting reminder of horror corkie

Let's rewind a little bit, to the third term against the Demons. Bruce was taking his turn in the ruck at a centre bounce, relieving Rowan Marshall as he often does, when he copped a knee to his right thigh from either Max Gawn or Braydon Preuss (Bruce doesn't remember which). 

There are already two similarities, because Geary's incident also happened in the third quarter, and Bruce's knock was also to his right thigh.

Corkies are a staple of ruck duties, so Bruce wasn't concerned.

Not initially, anyway. 

"It got really, really sore at three-quarter time. I tried to play the last quarter out but couldn't really run, so I played about 10 minutes in the last quarter and was pretty useless," Bruce told AFL.com.au.

Bruce contests the ruck against Gawn in the win over Melbourne. Picture: AFL Photos

The Saints ran away with victory and when Bruce went into the rooms, his thigh had started to blow up. 

He was given blood-clotting medication, which might have saved him from more serious damage being done.

Bruce drove back home, as Geary did, but knew he was in strife while sitting on the couch. 

"It was really, really, really sore, and it was just getting worse and worse," Bruce said.

The standard treatment for a corkie involves icing the affected area.

"It was not giving me any relief or anything at all and it was just like 'This is so weird'," Bruce said.

The lack of improvement convinced Bruce to call Tim Barbour, one of the club's doctors, and he was instructed to head straight to Epworth Hospital. 

He couldn't wrap his head around what was happening on the trip over. 

"I was just thinking 'How am I going to hospital with a corkie? I've been playing this game for years and years and years, I've had 100s of corkies and never had one that's been an issue and I'm going to spend a night in hospital – are you kidding me?'. I couldn't believe it," Bruce said. 

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At this point, he was still unaware of Geary's own troubles. The Saints' other doctor, Ian Stone, had been in Carlton, so he joined Bruce at the Epworth.

While the pair sat in the emergency department's waiting room, Bruce recalled the conversation they had.

Stone: "Oh, Gears is on his way in as well". 

Bruce: "What? What do you mean?". 

Stone: "Gears has got the same thing, a corked right quad". 

Bruce: "No way." 

Stone: "Yeah, his sounds really, really bad too".

Bruce: "Geez, what are the odds? Neither of us have had a corkie in our leg this badly and we both get it on the same night".

Bruce walks on to the Jiangwan Stadium field in Shanghai ahead of a training session. Picture: Michael Willson, AFL Photos

Eventually, Geary arrived and the duo were given powerful painkillers. While they did the job for Bruce, the captain was seeking more relief from the agony. 

They were then tested to see if compartment syndrome was the issue. Bruce knew if that was the diagnosis, the consequences could be dire.

"If you leave it for long enough, your leg dies and this kind of thing (can happen). I was just freaking out," Bruce said. 

They had a pressure test, which involves a needle being inserted into the relevant muscle while a connected machine takes a reading. 

"Gears's was no good. The pressure was through the roof, so they ordered a surgeon in straight away and they were going to slice him open within half an hour, because if you wait any longer the tissue can get really, really bad," Bruce said. 

"I was so nervous after that." 

MATCH PREVIEW St Kilda v Port Adelaide in Shanghai

Bruce's results came back far better though, and despite staying in hospital overnight, he ultimately just had a severe corkie.

Which was a far better outcome than the alternative.

"Thank God I didn't have to have surgery, because I went in and saw Gears's leg the next morning. I walked up to his room, it was a couple of levels above me, and it was horrific," Bruce said. 

"It was so bad. They release the pressure and the fascia and stuff, so the muscle was kind of hanging out of his leg, and because there's so much swelling, they couldn't close the skin up, so he had a good three-inch gap all the way up his leg, and they've just left it open. 

"It was just like an open wound with plastic dressing over it. It took him a full week to get the skin shut."

Saints skipper Geary displays his scar in Shanghai ahead of the Port Adelaide clash. Picture: Michael Willson, AFL Photos

While with Geary, coach Alan Richardson came for a visit. 

"'Richo' came in when I was sitting in there and we were both just like 'Wow'," Bruce said.

Despite the skipper lying there with a huge hole in his leg, the conversation soon turned, much to Bruce's amusement. 

"They both straight away started talking about who was going to come into the team. It was hilarious," Bruce said. 

"'Richo' was like 'What do you reckon? Probably bring DMac (Daniel McKenzie) in?' and Gears was like 'Yeah, bring DMac in'."

Bruce returned home and set his sights on the Adelaide clash in six days. Despite a couple of failed attempts to run during the week, a last-minute fitness test gave him and the club enough confidence he should be right.

All went well for the first 30 minutes. Following that, not so much. 

"After quarter-time, I just couldn't run. Even (Crows defender Daniel) Talia was like "Mate, what's wrong with you? Are you OK?'," Bruce said.

"I was like 'My leg's screwed'." 

He's become accustomed to playing while hurt. In the round three loss to Fremantle, a particularly nasty knee to his back caused a fracture but he fought through it, using painkilling injections to get through the following three weeks. 

It's all part of the package of being an AFL footballer.

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