Brett Deledio will miss the 2019 grand final through injury.
This follows the heart-breaking – and ironic – events of 2017. Deledio moved from Richmond in the 2016 off-season only for the Tigers to win their first premiership since 1980 in the following year.
Deledio or ‘Lids’ was incredibly durable for most of his AFL career. Deledio played 18 or more games per season from his debut in 2005 to 2015. He became the youngest life member in Richmond’s history in the process. He was named All Australian twice and claimed the Jack Dyer medal as Richmond’s best player in 2008 and 2009.
Then, unexpectedly, his body broke down. Deledio played 11 games in 2016 then seven, 11 and 14 in the years that followed. His on-field output dropped considerably due to a lack of consistent game time and changes in his role to mitigate the risk of re-injury.
(Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Deledio’s calf is the main culprit in his curtailed final four seasons. It’s reported that he’s sustained a staggering 31 calf injury reoccurrences since 2016.
So, physiologically, what has gone wrong? A brief look at the anatomy of the lower leg helps to explain.
The calf is composed of two muscles. One is the gastrocnemius – the bulging part of the calf closer to the knee – which is responsible for generating power.
The second is the soleus, which sits below Gastrocnemius and functions primarily as we walk and jog. Gastrocnemius and soleus join in the lower leg and form a common tendon which eventually becomes the Achilles tendon.
Both muscles are paramount to a footballer. The gastrocnemius helps players like Deledio lead and chase down opponents. The soleus, on the other hand, works the rest of the time.
Deledio played most of his career as a midfielder and clocked up countless kilometres over the journey. This placed a tremendous load on his calf tendons.
It’s not clear why Deledio suffered this fate while players of similar ilk did not. But there could have been many factors which contributed along the way. For example, Deledio’s biomechanics – the structural make-up of his body and how he moves – could mean he preferentially loads his calf tendons making them susceptible to overload.
Or it could be due to weak gluteal muscles. These muscles play an important role in single-leg postures like running and kicking. Inefficiency here would mean the calves must work harder for longer.
Deledio’s athleticism could be a factor too. He would regularly generate significant force chasing and leading, and due to the week-to-week nature of AFL football – coupled, ironically, with the durability he displayed for most of his career – his calf tendons might not have been afforded enough time to recover.
Alternatively, it could be his physiology. Tendons are made up of collagen, but there are many different collagen types, some of which are more prone to injury. Deledio could have drawn the unfortunate collagen straw.
More than 30 injury reoccurrences would have many questioning the rehabilitation process and Deledio’s support from the medical teams.
But the medical professionals aren’t to blame. They would have based their management on the best available evidence. But tendon injuries aren’t particularly well understood just yet. The research varies from paper to paper when it comes to the best protocol to follow and when to return to sport.
The challenge with tendon injuries is that when a strain occurs, significant structural changes have already taken place. Rather than functioning like a strong rubber band that snaps back every time, Deledio’s rubber band began to fray. It could still generate power. But if he over-stretched it or moved too fast, the fraying worsened.
This is why he could demonstrate to the medical team that he was ready on the training track, a controlled environment. But when it came to game day, a far more dynamic setting infused with stress, he would often re-injure the calf.
So based on these physiological changes, Deledio’s decision to retire was the right one. Persevering through more than 30 reoccurrences of the same injury is a testament to his character.
Deledio deserves to be at the MCG on Saturday. But he also has enough perspective – through losing family members in recent years coupled with the tragic passing of Danny Frawley – to realise that there are bigger things in life than football and even an AFL premiership.
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