Injuries are part of every footballers journey, but with missed time doesn’t always come the triumphant return, and history quickly forgets what could have been, just asked Ted Whitten Jnr.
‘Young Ted’s’ career was cruelly cut short when he suffered a knee injury at just 25 years of age in a curtain raiser to a charity match of all things in 1983.
Up until then, Whitten had played 144 games and kicked 133 goals for the Bulldogs over nine years. More than just a handy player, Whitten was one of the best Bulldogs of his era, and had represented Victoria at State level.
But the injury, a standard collision with a Collingwood player, effectively ended his career. Three knee reconstructions followed but it was the last we saw of Whitten Jnr as a footballer.
It’s something that still sits with him to this day, mostly for the fact that he didn’t reach his 200 game milestone.
“I was not only really disappointed, but I was envious of all of my teammates,” he told BulldogsTV in the latest episode of Guardians of the Guernsey.
“Because one of my plans was to play in the 200 Club with my Dad, or to make the 200 club.
“That didn’t happen. It was a difficult one in terms of not playing, because that’s what you love doing, that’s what you want to do. And when it’s cut short, it’s hard.”
Whitten told the story on the latest episode of Guardians of the Guernsey, with Katie Brennan who had battled her own injury demons in the inaugural AFLW season, and he had some pointed advice for the young Bulldogs captain:
“My career ended at only 25 years of age. Being able to play League football is a fantastic experience, but it can be cut short so you should make every post a winner in regards to playing every game, every training session.”
Brennan ended up missing most of the 2017 season, and conceded that she’d learnt a lot about herself over that period. One shining light, however, was Western Bulldogs ruckman Jordan Roughead who suffered a hamstring injury around the same time.
“Roughy went down at the same time, pretty much, in that practice match so we had a few chats over the period, where we were just checking in with each other and that was really good,” she said.
“We’ve had a decent relationship over the past three years since Roughy’s been doing some work with us. I think it was just a bit of a text message that said, ‘thinking of you, mate’ when he did his hammy.
“We had a bit of a chat over the phone and it was great to hear he was getting back and that we could talk about the whole experience of being injured and the small steps you have to take to get back out on the field.”
Click here to visit the Guardians of the Guernsey hub.
