Hyde's head clash is history
12:03:04 PM Wed 27 July, 2005
Jen Witham
Exclusive to afl.com.au
It's been a bumpy year for Richmond midfielder Chris Hyde, and despite playing some strong football in his new role as a running attacker, he will probably remember it more for what happened back in round five.
It was the match against St Kilda that saw Hyde and Saint Matt Maguire give the word "clash" a whole new meaning when they collided at high speed – their heads bearing the brunt of the blow.
Maguire escaped with concussion and played the following week. Hyde wasn't so lucky, and sustained a fractured skull as the result of the accident.
Despite the injury, the young midfielder missed only three games. Playing without headgear nearly 14 weeks down the track, he believes he is fully recovered in both a physical and psychological sense.
"That happened fairly early on and it took me a little bit longer that I would have liked to get over, but it happened, and I'm over it now," Hyde told afl.com.au.
"It's not something I think about anymore, and it doesn't concern me. It's just one of those things that happened, and I'm getting on with it now."
Hyde did admit he was concerned about returning to the game initially but shelved his anxiety once given the go-ahead from his doctors and specialists.
"Probably at the start, (not playing) was something that I sort of thought about, and the neurosurgeon said there was a bit of bruising on the brain, so that definitely makes you think," Hyde recalled.
"After he gave me the all-clear and said that it was fine and that I was back to the same amount of risk as everyone else, it was something that I had to put behind me, and I think I did."
After making his debut for the Tigers in 2002, Hyde found the start to his AFL career long and arduous, playing only eight games in his first two years.
"It was pretty frustrating, but I thought if I get frustrated, the only person who I will be penalising will be me, in the long run," Hyde said.
"If I was on the bench, and then I would come on and get taken off, getting frustrated wasn't going to help anyone, so that was the attitude I had towards it.
"I just had to take the positives out of it. It wasn't how you'd write a fairytale script, it wasn't that at all, but I just tried to keep playing and hang in there."
Hyde has continued to demonstrate his level of maturity by maintaining a realistic approach to the Tigers' current standing, with finals just around the corner.
The 22 year-old says the Tigers will be playing in September only if they're good enough.
"I can't see why (winning enough games to make the eight) wouldn't be realistic. We're in a position where if we're good enough, we can make it, if we're not, well we won't," Hyde said.
"The competition is so even, and every game is up for grabs by both teams, so we’ve just got to put our heads down, and if we're good enough, we can make it."
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