19-year-old Anthony, nicknamed 'Jack', admits that he is very lucky to have a long career in football still ahead of him, and is extremely positive about his situation and being able to continue playing football. The incident occurred when teammate Sean Rusling accidentally threw Anthony into Martin Clarke’s right shoulder during a tackling drill.
Scans initially revealed a blood clot about ten centimetres long, which was pressing against the spinal cord directly below the skull, between the C2 and C5 vertebrae.
Only last week doctors were able to confirm that while Anthony has recovered extremely well, to avoid any risk at all of further damage to the area it is best to wait until the 2008 season to resume playing football.
“The doctor told me it looks really good, it doesn’t actually look like there’s an injury there”, Anthony told collingwoodfc.com.au on Monday.
“They (the doctors) are going to treat it like a reconstruction of a knee (in terms of recovery time), in that I’ve done no structural damage. I’ve done ligament damage, tissue damage and vein damage.
“So we’ve got to make sure, because it’s in a sensitive spot, and because I’m so young, that I’ve got to think of my health first. So they’ve ruled me out for the year, and they’ve said I’ll be 100 per cent for next year.
“I went in there with a positive attitude that I’d come out alright, and I’m pretty happy with the result.”
It’s been a difficult couple of months for Anthony, not knowing exactly how he would recover.
“From when I was first told, when it first happened, I thought it (football career) was over, and then I slowly got better each week, and I was still in doubt as to whether I could play again.
“The doctor was very straightforward with his answers and made me a little bit scared of where I was at.
“When I found out it was only a year, they took my age and my health into account, they pretty much said my health comes first, but that I’d be 100 per cent by October.
“They said I do have a chance of playing at the end of the year, the only problem would be that I’d be still risking it because it would be six months. It’s been two months now, another four months takes us to mid August, and I’d be risking it.
“So I pretty much said to myself I don’t want to risk it, and I’ll wait another six months and be able to play in ’08 from the start.”
The versatile Anthony, who is highly regarded at the club as a player capable of playing senior football in a James Clement-type defensive role in the future, has endured a frustrating start to his career at Collingwood. His positive outlook, however, is a true reflection on his maturity and self-belief.
“I’ve been annoyed since I’ve been here at Collingwood, because last year my pre-season was interrupted with injury and I didn’t get my chance to prove myself early pre-season and the same happened this year.
“But that’s footy, and life goes on, and I’m looking forward to ’08, it gives me a great chance to get my schooling done, and learn the fundamentals of football, as well as I get to see different sides of football.
“For instance on Saturday I was in the coaches box, I would’ve never experienced that had I not been playing.”
