Team which rebuilt Nathan Brown
24 June 2007 Sunday Herald Sun
David Reed
WE have the technology, we can rebuild him.
Nathan Brown isn't quite the Six Million Dollar Man, but for Tiger fans he was priceless on Friday night as he played a starring role in Richmond's first win for the season.
It is more than two years since Brown shattered his lower leg after a sickening clash with Melbourne defender Matthew Whelan.
Pain has been his constant companion and the pool his nemesis as the 29-year-old fought his way back to finally play pain-free on Friday night. As luck would have it, he lined up against the Demons again - yet this time it ended in unmitigated triumph.
While it wasn't his first game back since the broken leg, it has been a challenging journey.
But he hasn't been alone in his battle, some of the key players behind the scenes have included:
THE SURGEON ORTHOPAEDIC surgeon Hayden Morris has seen plenty of sports injuries but reckons Brown's was the worst.
Morris took charge of the operation to repair Brown's shattered lower leg on May 28, 2005, the day after the incident.
In a one-hour operation at Vimy House Private Hospital in Kew, Morris re-aligned the bones and inserted a tibial rod and a couple of screws to hold it in place.
"There were three breaks in the tibia and one in the fibula - it was akin to a car crash, high velocity, high-speed impact," he said.
"You have fractures and then you have fractures and Browny's was a terrible one.
"But he has been very positive, with one of the best work ethics I've seen. He was so dedicated that if I told him to do something he'd try to do twice as much."
Morris said the best news was that although it was a terrible injury, once healed it shouldn't cause any more problems.
"Below and above the breaks, his knees and ankles are in good shape, it's not like his knee was torn apart," he said.
The bizarre part came when Brown got an unexpected stress reaction in the fibula bone a few centimetres below the break.
THE FITNESS GURU RICHMOND'S conditioning and rehabilitation coach, Warren Kofoed, has been by Brown's side every step of the way.
"He has had his own demons to work through, but he has remained positive," Kofoed said. "He has got pretty good coping strategies.
"He has been pretty frustrated, just with the not knowing how long it would take (to heal).
"With a hamstring you know how it will respond in three weeks and you can see it on scans, but with his leg there was no indication . . . no one could tell him when."
Brown's rehabilitation involved a truckload of swimming in the club's 25m pool, which Kofoed said the player hated.
"He is in there three to four times a week and sessions are 1500m to 2km, so you do the maths," Kofoed said. "It's a lot of swimming.
"Then there was cycling and time on the ergo rower - he was doing little triathlons. There has been a whole lot of cross training and you can see by his body he is in good shape."
THE COACH ASSISTANT coach David King is fresh out of the game and never had an injury as bad as Brown's leg - few have.
"Some players are just unfortunate, aren't they?" King said.
"But as you saw on Friday night he has got a presence about him and that is what we have been lacking on the field. He is someone who wants the footy in crunch times and - as you saw - he can close the deal."
But King has seen another side of Brown's rehabilitation.
"He was really committed during rehab but there were times when he wasn't his normal, bubbly self. It was just frustration."
THE TEAMMATE DANIEL Jackson is eight years younger than Brown but arrived at Tigerland at the same time as the established star.
"Since he has come back and started training he has been the most vibrant one out there and I think it showed on Friday night," Jackson said.
"For him to come out and play like he did in the first quarter after missing so much footy is exactly what Nathan does.
"Obviously the first time he did the injury he was struggling, but I think what was worse was when he made that initial comeback and the injury returned - that was hard.
"But he is a hard worker. He is an inspiration to us all - the way he trains, the way he plays, his attitude. He is such a great bloke."
THE GIRLFRIEND SALLY Prowd, Brown's partner, has been there for the highs and lows.
"It has just been so long which has been frustrating," Prowd said on Friday night.
Prowd's family came from Noosa to the game, while Brown's mother watched from the Gold Coast.
"It has been over two years now, so he was amazing to start with," Prowd said.
"In the first six months he was really positive. He has been really amazing the whole time and he has never once thought that he wouldn't play again and get back to where he was.
"At the same time, it has been very frustrating - he has been a bit angry.
"I think, if anything, this time has been the hardest. He was so fierce and two days before he found out he had the 'hot spot' he told me that it was the best that he had felt since (the time before) he broke his leg."
Prowd's philosophy has always been to put Brown's setback in perspective.
"The best thing for me has been to stay really positive and to try to keep his mind off it. It is obviously really important to him but I have always tried to keep perspective on it."
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