Collingwood co-captain Brianna Davey says she knew she had torn her anterior cruciate ligament when she went down late in the Magpies’ win over Carlton on Sunday.
Scans on Monday confirmed the reigning AFLW best-and-fairest winner had ruptured her ACL and medial collateral ligament in her right knee, the same side she had reconstructed in 2018.
The 26-year-old is one of three of the competition’s premier players to have suffered season-ending injuries in the opening round.
Western Bulldogs forward Isabel Huntington was also confirmed to have suffered a third ACL rupture, while Brisbane’s premiership defender Kate Lutkins will also sit out the remainder of the 2022 season.
Davey says the devastation of a season on the sidelines has hit her harder than the prospect of rehabilitating her soon-to-be-reconstructed knee.
“To be honest, emotionally it’s been harder over the last 24 hours or so,” she told SEN Mornings on Tuesday.
“I’ve done it before so I sort of knew when I went down and had that instant pain, and then a few minutes later it had settled and I was able to get up.
“I did know at the time, and the tears at the time were more the emotion than the physical pain. Look, it’s been tough, but I’ve had so many people reach out to me.
“The whole footy world has really gotten behind me, and it’s been really amazing to see and I feel really cared for, which is really lovely.”
Davey last ruptured her ACL when she was Carlton’s captain in 2018, and held on to some hope this injury would be different.
“I did my first knee in 2018, so four years ago now,” Davey recalled.
“You forget the feeling but remember it as well if that makes sense… I think the action was a little bit different. I did them both on change of direction, but the movement was a little bit different.
"Looking back at the footage I was like ‘oh, maybe it’s not…’ it was a little bit of wishful thinking, and trying to keep myself and the people around me positive.
“I think it was just trying to hope, but deep down I did know which is why when I was exiting the field I was pretty emotional.”
In 2019, she returned to captain Carlton to the AFLW Grand Final, and she’ll hope to mirror that success with the Pies.
“I definitely will get in as soon as possible, but I’ll wait for the swelling to get out of my knee first,” Davey explained.
“That’s the protocol, so you can go in almost like you’ve got a fresh knee - but not quite - and then they fix it up from there and you hit the rehab once you’re out of surgery.”
She expects to learn new lessons as she progresses through her rehab, and won’t fret if it feels slow or wavers from her experience of four years earlier.
“I’ve had a few people say ‘you’ve done this before,’” Davey related.
“It’s coming from a beautiful, kind and caring place but yeah, with knees and the rehab and the reco(nstruction) it’s always different every time.
“I’ve done it once, but that’s what I hear from the people who have done it more than once. It throws you different challenges and obstacles each time it happens.
“I do know what to expect, I know the rehab’s hard and it can be tedious. I know you’ll have days when you feel like you’re flying and others where you think ‘oh my gosh, this is not moving.’”
Davey has played 18 games in black and white and 35 over her career, having been signed by Carlton as a marquee player for the inaugural season, and since traded to Collingwood.
Before the elite women’s footy competition came about, she was a W-League champion with both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City, and represented Australia on 17 occasions.