Tom Rockliff has revealed what he has had to endure this year and why he has called time on his playing career.
The 31-year-old announced his retirement on Tuesday after four seasons with Port Adelaide and nine with the Brisbane Lions.
Rockliff had struggled with a knee issue earlier in the season, but it wasn’t the MCL and meniscus injuries that directly led to his decision.
The midfielder was playing SANFL for the Magpies in early May when he sustained the injuries that led to his career-ending blood clots.
“I went for a spoil and twisted my left knee and hurt the MCL on that, but also did the medial meniscus on the right knee in the same incident,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“It’s pretty unheard of to hurt both knees.
“After scans I had to go in for surgery on the right side which is normally a walk in, walk out type of operation so they weren’t too concerned about it.
“My ankle swelled up on my left side. My wife Sharna noticed it and said just get that checked to make sure it’s ok.
“I saw the docs to see what was going on. He said, ‘you might have a clot in your calf, I highly doubt it, but we’ll go and get it checked’. I went to a scan place and they said, ‘yeah, you’ve got a 10-centimetre clot in your calf’.”
Rockliff said the potential complications involved with blood clots was simply too much to risk for the final few years of a footy career.
He says having to take blood thinners to combat the clot while attempting to play sport at the elite level was just too “scary”.
“They sent me straight to hospital for a chest scan to check my lungs. We’ve got to make sure it’s not on your lungs and there’s no clots there,” he added.
“It showed that there were two blood clots on my lungs which was pretty scary. They were pretty calm about it, but we have a bit of an issue with hospitals over here and ramping so I was rushed back to the other hospital where I had the surgery so they could get me in.
“I suppose the rest is history. I started on blood thinners straight away and when you’re on blood thinners you can’t play.
“We hoped that they’d be gone by now but unfortunately there’s one on my calf still. The risk is too great to play when you’re on blood thinners for brain aneurysms or something like that.
“Doctors said it can stay in a position for 10 years and not really do any damage, but if you get off the blood thinners you do run the risk of getting hit in that calf and then it transporting back to your lungs.
“For me it was a simple decision in the end, but a tough one at the same time.”
Asked if it was a difficult choice to turn his back on the game, Rockliff admits the risks far outweighed the rewards, insisting it just “wasn’t worth it”.
“I’ve come to terms with it,” Rockliff said further.
“I’ve always understood that it was a possibility once I got the clots. Had it been my knees there’s every chance I’d have been playing at either SANFL or AFL level about eight weeks ago.
“I knew that there was a risk that it was going to still be around. It wasn’t worth it in the end.
“In consultation with doctors and medical people, they said if it’s an arm or a leg we’d tell you to get out there as they can repair, but your lungs and internals, there’s too much of a risk.
“If something goes wrong it’s not repairable and a possibility of not being here.”
Rockliff played 154 games for the Lions between 2009 and 2017, and added 54 for the Power for a career total of 208.
The former Lions captain won two Merrett-Murray Medals, made the 2014 All-Australian team and averaged more than 25 disposals over his career.
He indicated that trying his hand at coaching is an option now his playing days are done.
