In his second exclusive collingwoodfc.com.au column, Harry O'Brien gives an insight into what it's like dealing with setbacks as an AFL footballer, and speaks to a Collingwood champion who had to overcome considerable hurdles early in his career.

A large part of our great game is setbacks. Every player is faced with them in their career whether they like it or not.

Setbacks in the AFL come in many forms such as injuries, loss in form, media and public scrutiny and selection issues. If you ask the elite at Collingwood, they can all share their experiences with major setbacks.

I recently caught up with two-time Copeland Trophy winner Paul Licuria to discuss some of the setbacks he has faced in his successful career.

Before the age of 18, Licuria had undergone two knee reconstructions. Licuria describes how these times were some of the hardest he has gone through emotionally and physically. 

His body was not allowing him to do the thing he enjoyed the most. He made the decision to retire from football.

“I thought it was not worth it. I saw the pain that my family were suffering at the time, seeing their son always on the operating table,” Licuria explained.

He recalls how the second operation was the hardest to overcome.

“I came back a year after my first knee reconstruction and four weeks into the season I injured the other knee.

“They did not know what had happened when I initially injured the knee. I was always complaining about it to the medical staff and they simply told me it was in my head. I continued to play for six weeks and it kept collapsing.”

After going in for minor surgery to ‘clean up’ what was thought to be a cartilage problem the surgeon discovered that he did indeed have a tear in his ACL. After regaining consciousness from the general anaesthetic the bad news was broken to him.

“I thought ‘how does this work?’ I work flat out for one year doing everything I possibly can to get my knee right then I come back and I do the other one. I busted my ass, I wasn’t a bad kid, why should I be punished?”

Licuria returned to football after giving the game away, and in what was a surprise to all including himself, was drafted to Sydney in 1995.

“When I arrived at Sydney I got the feeling that everyone was thinking that they had drafted this “hack” with two knee reconstructions.”

With a mixture of homesickness and finding it hard to consolidate a regular position in the Sydney line-up he found himself traded to Collingwood in 1998.

“When I arrived I knew I had to work as hard as my body allowed me to. I had to make the most of the opportunities I was given because I had not done so at Sydney.”

And make the most of his opportunities he did, making and immediate impact by winning a rising star nominee in 1999 and quickly forging a reputation for having an incredible work ethic.

In 2001 he won himself the Copeland Trophy, only to back up his performances in and win his second in 2002.

Licuria’s story is a great example of the way in which setbacks can affect a player. He has overcome a lot to become an upper echelon player at the club.

If you speak to our elite here at Collingwood about setbacks you will see a similar trend. All of our elite have faced their fair share of major setbacks, some are going through them at the moment. However the common trend is not the setback itself, but rather how they respond through the times of adversity.

This is what makes our best the best at Collingwood. Their ability to pick themselves up off the ground when all the chips are down. It’s the mental strength needed after missing nearly two seasons of football like Tarkyn Lockyer. Or bouncing back when everyone had written him off due to off-field problems like Dane Swan.

The examples are endless. The many setbacks a player has to endure during his career if he is to survive are extremely difficult to overcome.

As AFL footballers we face extreme scrutiny but it’s often the setbacks which are not made public that either make us or break us.