IT’S SAFE to say it’s been a year of change for Maddy Guerin.
As just about everyone looks back on a 12-month span of the ‘unprecedented’, Guerin scarcely could have imagined that the preparation to 2021 would pan out as it has.
This time last year, even before Covid times, Guerin was readying herself for her second season at Melbourne.
Now, she finds herself at Ikon Park, a long way down the road in her recovery from an ACL injury that cut short her 2020.
Given her previous run with her fitness, it was something that took a lot of getting used to for the former Northern Knight.
“I’ve never really been one to get injured. I hadn’t really missed a training session in my past few years at Melbourne,” Guerin said in the latest edition of Behind the Game Changers.
“It wasn’t really until the next day when we got a scan mainly as a precaution that I found out I’d done my ACL. A few of my teammates had been through that before, so I knew straight away that it entailed a long, 12-month rehab.
“It was pretty hard to hear the news.”
Taking place as she changed direction “like I always would”, it was a long way back for Guerin, who ticked off a significant milestone on the weekend just gone.
Returning to action in Carlton’s practice match against St Kilda, Guerin got through unscathed as she pulled on the Navy Blue for the first time.
It’s a far cry from where she was in the immediate aftermath post-surgery.
“They were probably the hardest few days after surgery. It’s pretty debilitating,” she said.
“I knew for me to get back to where I was and to have a long career in footy, I just needed to do everything I could from the start. I created the best support group around me to do that.
It was the first of a series of events which dictated Guerin’s year, being sidelined from the action as the pandemic ultimately cancelled the AFLW season abruptly.
Then, just over six months later, she had swapped the red and blue for the Navy Blue as she became a Game Changer.
With all those factors combined, you would’ve excused the transition to be a tricky one for the youngster. But it’s one she took in her stride, and her new teammates were all too willing to help.
“It was different. It was probably the first time I haven’t trained in a team environment for probably seven or eight years,” she said.
“It was pretty trick due to the lockdown to meet all the girls. It was nice because I went to Mitch [Greaves’] gym, our exercise physiologist, and I met some of the girls through there,” she said.
“It definitely made it a different transition in lockdown but I still feel very welcomed by all the girls. They put in a lot of effort to make sure we all felt really welcomed.”
With AFLW 5.0 just a week away from the time of writing, the wait may finally be over soon for Carlton’s newest No.18.
“It’s very exciting to be ready to go now before the season has started,” she said.
“It’s been a long 10 or 11 months. I’m so excited to get out there on the park again."
