Northern Jets coach Mitch Robinson is counting himself both lucky and unlucky after suffering a serious neck injury on an end of season trip – one that could cost him his football career.
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Robinson is in a neck brace for three months after he fell and landed on his neck in Brisbane, causing a break in the C7 vertebrae and a crack in the C6.
“I got up alright but after a while it was sore so I went and lay down on a lounge chair and my arm started tingling,” Robinson said.
It was the start of a drawn-out ordeal as Robinson spent six hours at hospital for X-rays.
“That was all clear, so I came home and went on with life for two or three weeks,” he said.
Still experiencing soreness, Robinson eventually booked himself in for an MRI scan “for peace of mind after previous surgery when I was 14”.
Suddenly, he was sent straight to Wagga Rural Referral Hospital, placed in a brace and immediately booked for a flight to Sydney.
“They flew me to Sydney and they had prepped me for surgery but the specialist came along and when he looked at my old scans and everything he said it’d be too risky to operate,” Robinson said.
“It was too close to where the last surgery was to operate. But he said it’s all aligned and it looks stable enough.”
It was the rod and pins that Robinson had had inserted as a teenager that apparently obscured the injury on the X-ray.
“By the sounds of it I’m very lucky that I was up and about for three weeks and didn’t do any damage to my spine,” Robinson said. “I could’ve ended up in a wheelchair.”
Robinson hasn’t sought a formal opinion on his chances of playing again (although he was already told at age 14 that his playing days were likely over).
“I’m pretty lucky to be playing footy anyway because of that previous surgery,” he said.
“I think I’d nearly be rubbing next year but I haven’t asked the specialist about it yet.
“He sent me home (last Friday, after a week in Sydney). I’ll have scans to monitor it and make sure it’s still healing and nothing’s moved.
“I’ve got a couple of kids and a wife to think about too.
“If the specialist says it’s a full recovery then I’ll do everything I can to play. But I haven’t asked the question yet.”
He said it has been a testing few weeks of turmoil for he and his family.
“It was a scare, initially,” he said.
“Especially when you’re in Brisbane away on a footy trip, to make that phone call…
“And (three weeks later) when they said you’re flying by air ambulance to Sydney and getting operated on, it was a bit of a shock.”
But Robinson said he’s firmly committed to coaching, and has been using some of his spare time to get on the phone and plan for next season.