Tweet
From ****e Mike in today's Hun
Swan throws away crutches
25 March 2004 Herald Sun
Mike Sheahan
JUDE Bolton and Heath James were drafted by the Swans within an hour of each other late in 1998. Numbers 8 and 28.
The pair, born eight days apart, moved to Sydney soon after the draft and became instant friends. They have lived together for four years.
When Sydney starts its 2004 season at the Gabba on Saturday night, Bolton will play his 92nd AFL game; James his eighth.
James isn't being flippant when he reaches for the nearest wooden item whenever his body is under discussion. "I do it all the time now," he says.
It has been a four-year tale of frustration and distress born of assorted injuries and lost opportunities. It all started with a cracked kneecap in a pre-season game in Brisbane in 2000 after he played the last four games of the previous year.
What followed was 11 separate hamstring muscle tears (six in his right leg, five in the left) in two years, a ruptured patella tendon suffered at a footy clinic, and, most recently, a clash of heads in a pre-season game against Carlton that left him with a cracked jaw and haemorrhaging from an ear.
Little wonder his father, Max, the former South Melbourne and Port Adelaide (SANFL) player, is so pleased for him. "I'm extremely proud of what he's done; he's worked so hard," James Sr said. "It's probably a credit to his character and what he does off the field and round the club. They've been extremely patient with him; more than what you might expect these days."
Max James played 55 games with the Swans from 1978-82, qualifying Heath to join the Swans under the father-son rule. James Sr, now a Port Adelaide board member, rejects responsibility for his son's hamstrings. "That's his mother. I missed three games in my first eight years of senior football."
He did, though, concede he fell to injury in Melbourne, with problems to his knees, a hip, his back and, yes, his hamstrings as he got older.
James Jr has been so unlucky, he almost blew his last chance when he ruptured the patella tendon in June 2002 at a midweek clinic at Campbelltown.
He had played one game after returning from 12 months out and was explaining the intricacies of the Australian game to a group of juvenile justice boys.
"I'd just finished telling them how I'd had so many injuries and that I'd played my first game back the week before. One kid said 'show us how you take a mark'. I ran up and took one over Jude (Bolton). The ground was pretty uneven and hard. I landed and my knee cap ended up halfway up my thigh."
The patella tendon recoiled like a broken spring. "I thought it was dislocated, that I'd be all right." He was operated on next day, his leg in a cast for eight weeks.
James believes the appointment of Paul Roos as coach mid-season in 2002 saved him.
"I'm pretty sure if Roosy didn't get signed as coach, I wouldn't have got another chance," he said.
Roos, who had James in his care as the club's defensive coach before succeeding Rodney Eade, said: "He's a super bloke, which helps. If you're a s - - t bloke and you're always injured, you're not going to last long round the place. You've always got your heart in your mouth when he plays, but he's quick, courageous; he plays tall and he's got a good leap. A couple of weeks ago, he played on Dustin Fletcher and played really well."
Roos told him at training on Monday he would be playing against Brisbane. "He was running round like a lunatic and I said 'do you want to play on Saturday'? He said 'yes'. I just said 'you're playing, get out of here'. I'm rapt for him; it's an outstanding effort."
James said he had to learn to run again before overcoming his hamstring problems. He explored solutions locally and in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide before discovering his saviour in Brisbane.
"This guy up there broke up all the scar tissue with syringes, which hurt like buggery."
He started running under the direction of Sydney's elite performance manager Dave Misson and physiotherapist Matt Cameron. "It took me six months to master it."
The most famous of his hamstring problems came against Collingwood in Sydney in 2001. When the tendon failed him yet again, he trudged from the field, weeping. "I thought the career was over then," he said.
But, nothing's over 'til it's over and he is in great spirits. Perhaps it's a spirit born of the strength of the Hawthorn teams of the 1980s. Despite his father's history, he grew up in Wentworth following the Hawks, worshipping Jason Dunstall. He finally got to meet the champion full-forward when he appeared locally at a sportsmen's night and stayed at the motel run by his mother and step-father.
"He was a good bloke. Didn't break anything. Paid for the mini-bar, too, which was good."
This kid has paid his dues, too.
Comment