JAMES Hird has lauded Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown for not changing his style after serious facial injuries, admitting he did just that after his own horrific head injury in 2002.
 
Hird needed three hours of surgery on his face after colliding with teammate Mark McVeigh's knee against Fremantle in Perth in round six that year, and missed eight weeks with a compound fracture.
 
He returned in a specially designed helmet and played out the rest of the season, but says he was always mindful of the injury when competing.

"[Brown's] a greatly admired player and the way he plays the game is the reason he's such a great player," Hird said.

"I know when I hurt my face back in 2002, I changed the way I played for an amount of time because I was fearful of what was going to happen.
 
"He doesn't seem to have done that and that probably shows his level of courage as opposed to mine, which is a fair bit greater."

Despite appearing to return and play with typical bravery, the Essendon coach and former captain said he held himself back during games.
 
"I probably didn’t go into the middle of the contest for the rest of that year I hurt my face," he said.
 
"I waited until the next year to do that."
 
Hird had no doubts Brown, in his 13th AFL season, could return to his best following surgery on Wednesday after fracturing his cheekbone at training from an accidental knee from teammate Matt Maguire.
 
"I think he'll come back and come back in sensational form," he said.

"If you look at the injury this time on TV, it looked like there was nothing he could have done about it. It wasn't his fault. It was just wrong place, wrong time."

Follow Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.
 
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