IN 2012, Melbourne appointed youngsters Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove as co-captains. To this day, Trengove, then 20 years old and 217 days, remains the youngest player in VFL/AFL history to be appointed skipper on a full-time basis.
By the end of 2013, Trengove had played 79 from a possible 88 matches in his first four seasons – a fine effort – but felt it was best to relinquish the co-captaincy role, given the difficulties the club had endured.
Able to focus on his own role, Trengove played the first two matches of the 2014 season. He notched up 24 disposals against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round one and had 20 touches against the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium the following week.
Although his form wasn’t disastrous – even if the side had a shocker against the Eagles, losing by 93 points – he was relegated to an emergency for rounds three and four.
At the same time, he played for Casey in the VFL, but things weren’t right, with a nagging foot issue finally reaching its tipping point.
It was after his second VFL match, against Geelong at Casey Fields on April 13, 2014 that it was revealed he had a navicular stress fracture.
It wasn’t a major surprise for the club, as it had been monitoring Trengove’s foot for a while. It was on the radar – as he had issues with his foot at the end of the 2013 season – but it was able to manage the issue, before it became too much.
From there, it would be more than two years before Trengove played at the highest level again.
It would take a massive effort from the player himself, plus the club’s medicos, fitness staff and coaches to help Trengove return to the AFL.
And on Saturday, June 4, 2016, the now 24-year-old achieved his remarkable comeback when he played his 82nd AFL match – his first in 797 days.
It was a fitting story of positivity, patience and perseverance.
The comeback starts
Trengove’s first operation on his navicular bone was on April 16, 2014, as club head physiotherapist Sam Pietsch explained.
“Trenners’ initial operation involved inserting two screws across the fracture in his navicular bone as well as a bone graft and clean-up of his ankle joint. After the operation he was non-weight-bearing with his foot permanently in a boot for eight weeks,” he said.
“At the eight-week mark, he was allowed to progress out of the boot and start partial weight-bearing with the crutches. He didn’t start full weight-bearing until the 10-week mark, after his first operation.
“It wasn’t until the 22-week mark after a lot of strength and cross-training fitness work that he started running outside.”
Almost traded
Towards the end of September, Trengove was having some issues with his navicular bone and in early October he had scans.
It coincided with the trade period, when Richmond sounded him out and almost lured him to Punt Rd.
Trengove had just started running on September 22 and Richmond followed up on him a couple of weeks later.
In between, he had only completed five low-key running sessions, before Melbourne realised there were some issues with his navicular.
However, up until that point, the scans showed that things were progressing well.
But on October 13, due to a potential trade with the Tigers, it was discovered that Trengove’s navicular bone had failed to heal properly and showed significant deterioration of his bone.
History shows that the trade didn’t eventuate and Trengove remained at Melbourne.
A second operation
The club then sought different medical opinions and consulted a number of specialists around the country.
The decision was then made that Trengove needed another operation.
This involved removing the screws from his initial operation, and filling the holes and recurrent fracture with a bone graft on October 25.
“After his second operation, he had eight weeks where he was in a fibreglass cast, where he was unable to weight bear and unable to move his foot. He had a little window cut in the cast to allow the use of a bone stimulator every day, but after this period of immobility, his calf and leg muscles were completely wasted,” Pietsch said.
At his eight-week follow-up, he was able to transfer out of the cast and into a moon boot, and very gradually started to build his capacity to take weight through his foot, while wearing the boot.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson said the club made sure it was very conservative with Trengove’s rehab.
“The docs were very good in painting a picture for us and framing the rehab and timeline. One of the biggest things after the second repair was that we were only ever going to have one crack at it rehabbing it properly,” he said.
“The feeling was that we needed to take as much time as we thought – and then a little bit more than that. The initial stages were really slow and we just had to be really patient and get scans along the way to show how it was progressing.”
On January 27, 2015, Trengove had a follow-up appointment and needed to remain in the boot for a few more weeks. It wasn’t until late February, 4 months after his second operation, that he was able to start full weight bearing and walk without the boot.
In late March, he had another follow-up appointment, which showed that the bone was healing and on the right track. Trengove was then able to increase his walking out of the boot. He was able to walk normally and increase his gym load.
From there, he was on a program that consisted of strength training, cross-training, walking and pool activities. There was no impact loading through his foot at all.
“He did that for four months, where it was all about strength and foot control,” Pietsch said.
“It was basically about getting him used to walking on his foot again and regaining strength in his leg, especially his calf. He didn’t have any strength in his foot and initially it was a struggle for him to do even a few calf raises.
“It wasn’t until July, when we felt that his navicular bone was showing enough signs of healing, and his leg strength was at a point where we started to discuss the possibility of impact loading and running.”
Training steps up
Although Trengove had worked on his conditioning and had gradually built up the loading in his foot, it wasn’t until August 7 that he had his first running session.
“That was when the boys had a banner for him to run through at training. It was the first time he had run for roughly 18 months and that run consisted of doing five 25-metre run throughs and a couple of laps of walk/jog and that was it,” Pietsch said.
“From there, it was a really slow progression with his running and we were really particular with how we loaded him – we made super, super slow increments with his running. We made sure he didn’t progress much between sessions and we were giving him at least two days in between each session.
“The first couple of weeks, he would only run on Monday and Friday and then we gradually built him up to a program where he’d do a three-day cycle – the first day running, the second day leg weights and cross-training and the third day he would have a day off his legs.
“We basically worked on this schedule from August through to December. It was really slow progressions – we were measuring his running distances, his number of impacts in his rehab exercises and gym, slowly building his speed and agility within his rehab sessions – that was the pain-staking work in his program.”
On November 11, Trengove started doing some off-line running and gradually built up his agility and football drills to the point where on December 7, he stepped up his skill base in rehab and did his first one-on-one skills session.
A return to football
Post-Christmas/New Year, Trengove continue to build up his skills.
On February 9, 2016 he participated in his first group session, where he did one drill.
From there, Trengove continued to build his training loads and his exposure with the group.
He got to the point where he played in the VFL intra-club match on March 25, which was his first game of any sorts in almost two years.
Although he had limited game-time, Trengove continued to build his game in the next four weeks.
Trengove played in Casey’s opening round of the season against Frankston at Casey Fields on Saturday, April 9.
Incredibly, his comeback didn’t last long, as he was concussed in the opening minutes and his night was done.
But he managed to return for the second round of the VFL season against Collingwood at the Holden Centre and was uncapped in his running.
And after seven matches for Casey, and shining in many, Trengove was selected for Melbourne against Hawthorn at the MCG in round 11. Coincidentally, it was against the Hawks he made his AFL debut in 2010.
Reflecting on Trengove’s journey
Misson said the most concerning aspect of Trengove’s recovery was that there was no surety about him playing again.
“To me that was the biggest thing. Unlike a hamstring injury, where you know it’s going to get better or even a Jack Viney knucklebone injury – you know that’s going to heal and be OK,” he said.
“With a navicular, there have been plenty of players who have had the navicular repaired – surgically repaired – and they’ve never played again.
“We were reasonably confident after the first one, when he first had it repaired, but when the scan came back after he had been running for only a few sessions– and his navicular had virtually crumbled – it was disheartening for Jack and for us.
“He had the second operation and really in a way, we wanted to rehab to the point where he could just have a normal life, with a foot he could just be active on.
“In the initial stages, quite honestly, we weren’t even thinking of him getting back to play. Our main goal was to really just to get him to walk around and lead a normal life – that’s how serious it was.”
For Pietsch, the most crucial aspect of Trengove’s comeback was not setting a timeframe – and remaining patient.
“We said we’d do whatever we had to do to get it right,” he said.
“Everyone was really good about that. There was no pressure on him. We just wanted to set little goals for him and make sure we had covered all bases with his rehab at each stage to ensure that he was confident with every progression we made in his program.
“We felt it was really important, to give him time to build strength and get the bone to heal to ensure it was capable of tolerating the loads that would be required for a return to football. That’s why the time has been long.”
A genuine team effort
Overall, Misson said Trengove’s return was due to a host of people.
“It was a real collective effort from the high performance and medical department. Right from those early stages, with the docs and physios setting up the framework – [physiotherapy team] Sam Pietsch and Joel Ames were really meticulous with their attention to detail with Jack’s program,” he said.
“From the high performance area, it was really Alex [Sakadjian], Rob Jackson and Crossy (Daniel Cross), who were the ones who took him through the day-to-day rehab. Rob took him in the gym, and Alex and Crossy out on the track. Those five people in particular were absolute key components in Jack’s rehab.
“They really got him back to where he was at, but it wouldn’t have happened without Trenners having that positive mindset. There really wasn’t a time where he doubted himself – he’ll probably admit there was – but he never showed that.
“He came in every single day with a positive view to improving and getting himself fitter and stronger. He was patient and never tried to rush things and he never tried to push us – he just followed the process and he really was an inspiration to a lot of people, given what he’s gone through.”
