A sleepless night, a breakfast that wouldn’t stay done and full-body jitters.
That’s the inside story behind Gold Coast’s Wil Powell emotional return to football, three-quarters of a year after the gruesome leg injury that rocked the sport.
He’s played six games since returning in his beloved club’s famous win over Geelong, is in career-best form and now returns to his home State for the first time since the opening round of last season.
“It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been for a football game. All the emotions of the lead-up to gameday and the sleep before — I could hardly sleep with all the emotions still running through my brain and my body — I was real jittery and so excited,” he told The West Australian.
“I ended up having breakkie, couldn’t get down lunch, vomited up breakkie.
Powell’s injury in June last year. Credit: Albert Perez/Getty Images
Wil Powell in hospital after breaking his ankle. Credit: Gold Coast Suns/Gold Coast Suns
“Getting to the ground and running out there it was just a big breath of fresh air, all the hard work that I did.
“I couldn’t have got their without my girlfriend, the physios, my family and the coach’s support.
“It was the best feeling ever… I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I found I settled in pretty quickly, I’d had a good bloke of training and had played half a VFL game. In the VFL game I felt like a bit of a headless chook, just the game-plan and overall structure and it was just so much faster than training.
“In the AFL game I did not think or bat an eyelid to my ankle or my hamstring at all, I was just focused on the task at hand which was beating Geelong and that’s what we were able to do.”