Jack Buckley has a motto to get himself through the next 12 months of rehab but before that, he’s got an NBA finals series to watch and an NFL Fantasy competition to win.
It was just minutes into the game on Saturday at the MCG when Melbourne Demon James Harmes collided with Buckley’s leg as a high ball came into the Dees’ forward 50.
As Phil Davis said later, the fact that the brave defender stayed down on the ground meant most immediately knew something serious was wrong.
The 23-year-old was helped from the field and it was good mate - and this week’s likely replacement - Sam Taylor who was in the rooms with him as the reality of the injury sunk in.
After Buckley was by Taylor’s side for his bout of septic arthritis last year, this time it was Taylor’s turn to be company and then chauffeur as he ferried his mate off for scans that would confirm a dreaded ACL injury.
“Sammy is one of my best mates and he came down to the rooms when it all happened and sat with me,” said Buckley.
“He was by my side all that day and I couldn’t get rid of him that night either. He pretty much had a hard tag on me. But in all seriousness, he’s been helping me out a lot and we have a good relationship.”
Back at the club hotel later that night, Buckley allowed himself to think of the next year ahead of him and he adopted a motto from a family friend.
“One of my mates’ dad has this saying that ‘it’s s**thouse, not fatal,’ which is going to be my motto for most my rehab I reckon.”
After playing every game this season and blossoming into a key part of the GIANTS’ backline, Buckley is just focused on the road again as he gets set to undergo surgery on Thursday.
“I know I’m in safe hands and everything is in front of me. I’ll just get told what to do and I just got to do it really.
“I can’t complain really, there’s been plenty of blokes who’ve done it before and have come back so I just got to get up and keep moving forward.”
In a small bit of good news for the avid NBA and NFL fan, he can settle in for the NBA Finals this week and then focus all his spare time on winning the club’s upcoming NFL fantasy comp.
“Luke Kelly our VFL coach is the commissioner of our NFL Fantasy league and I was joking with him that I’ll have so much time that I might do my own draft guide and try and sell it as I’ll be doing that much research.
“Even when I don’t have that much time on my hands, I always find a bit of time for trivial things like Fantasy (sports), FIFA and NBA so now that I’ve got plenty of time I’ll be deep diving into it, that’s for sure."
