ZACC Dwyer played a game of cricket, a round of golf and ran in a relay – all on a broken leg.
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The Warrnambool footballer walked around for 10 days before he was diagnosed with a fractured fibula on Wednesday.
He will now spend up to six weeks in a cast from his right foot to above his knee, ruling him out of the AFL Victoria Country Challenge Series where he was to represent Greater Western Victoria Rebels.
Dwyer, 15, was hurt in a Rebels’ under 16 practice match but shrugged the injury off as a corked leg.
The Warrnambool College student carried on his usual busy sporting workload before a visit to the doctor unearthed the seriousness of his injury.
“I played 18 holes of golf, I’ve been on work experience rendering and done the school relay and a game of cricket all with a broken leg,” he said.
Dwyer was hurt two minutes into a practice match and “thought it was just a corkie”.
“I saw the Warrnambool trainer on Tuesday and he said he thought I might need an X-ray on my leg,” he said.
“We went to the doctor yesterday at about 10 o’clock and he didn’t even think there was anything wrong with it.
“He thought just go to physio but he thought ‘we may as well get you an X-ray’, so I got an X-ray about half an hour after that and an hour later I was in plaster with a broken fibula.”
The Hampden league under 16 season starts on April 15.
Dwyer, who broke his collarbone last year, hopes to return to the football field in eight weeks.
For now he’s resting at home, enjoying time off school and keeping himself occupied playing a new Playstation snowboarding game.
“I’ll probably try and stay home for as long as I can – until Mum makes me go back,” he said tongue-in-cheek.
Dwyer is confident his Warrnambool teammates Patrick Rea, Ben Howard and Robert Goldstraw can perform strongly for the Rebels in their three-game under 16 series which starts this weekend.
“They’re all pretty good players, key position players and ruckmen,” Dwyer said.
“They’re all big and one of them, Pat Rea, is really good at running and will do well against all those athletic boys.”
