Let’s cut straight to the chase. Nathan Edgerton doesn’t want to hear your excuses.
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“I don’t like people sookin’. ‘Oh, I’ve hurt my foot, I can’t play footy.’ Pfffft.
“I’ve got one leg. Get out there! Or people saying, ‘I’m too old, I can’t play footy’.
No,” Edgerton shakes his head. “You’re not too old.”
After a year away from footy, the 19-year-old from Coleambally has been back amongst it this season, playing seconds for the Blues, with a prosthetic leg.
He lost his lower left leg at the age of three after he was involved in a car accident. That didn’t stop him learning the game as an Auskick youngster and, apart from time off when he wasn’t living in the town, Edgerton progressed to under 17s with the Blues.
After 18 months off, he moved back from Griffith and decided to get involved again.
“Now I’m back home I thought I better do something with my weekends,” he says.
The speedy midfielder notices the odd raised eyebrow from opposition players but most of the feedback he gets is positive.
“Definitely good reactions. It’s a good thing,” he says.
“You get the occasional (negative comment). A lot of people are surprised to see me out there but it’s natural to me. I’ve been doing it for a while.”
Edgerton says playing isn’t always comfortable but he’s just happy to keep having a crack.
“I’m pretty used to it. It depends how long I’ve had the leg for,” he says. “If the leg’s new, like within three or four months, it’s perfect. It doesn’t even feel like I’ve got one on there.
“But as you grow, my leg will expand, or go this way or that way. And it will start to feel a little bit uncomfortable. But it doesn’t stop me. If I’m out there I’ve got to do something.
“They’re pretty good at making them. The one I’ve got on now is a covered one and it’s got a gyro-plate in it. It makes it look normal and feel normal to walk.
“My footy one’s just a metal bar. It’s nice and light but heavy duty so it doesn’t break or anything.”
The Blues wrap up their season at home to Charles Sturt University on Saturday.
Edgerton admits it’s been a tough year for the club with a shortage of numbers contributing to a winless season in reserve grade, while the seniors have celebrated only the one victory. But he says spirits at the club have remained high.
“We’re all still getting to training and getting around each other, enjoying ourselves, and trying to keep first grade up too.”
