Essendon have received a rare piece of good news with rising defender Lewis Hayes avoiding a second knee reconstruction. Hayes made his return to the field in the VFL on Sunday, playing three quarters in his first competitive match since rupturing his ACL in Round 9 last year.
The 21-year-old made an encouraging return before spending the final quarter on the bench after earlier hyper-extending his knee. Scans revealed he had suffered damage to his ACL. But in good news for the club and player, Hayes will not require a full reconstruction after exploratory surgery revealed just a sprain to his ACL. He will still miss the remainder of the season, but is expected to be fit for the start of pre-season.
It is a massive relief for the player and club, who had been planning for another long rehabilitation period. “This is incredibly tough news for Lewis, who has put in a mountain of work and shown incredible commitment and resilience over the past 12 months, following his original ACL injury which occurred during his AFL debut early last season,” Essendon’s footy manager Daniel McPherson said earlier this week. “Lewis is an outstanding individual and a highly valued member of our football club, so to suffer another ACL injury after everything he has put into his rehab and recovery is shattering. He has attacked every challenge placed in front of him with professionalism and determination, and we have no doubt he will approach this setback the same way.”
