Brave Benson shocked coaches with speedy return from horror injury SAINTS’ SUPERMAN
WHEN Harry Benson ran off Elderslie
Reserve in round 11 with four breaks in his jaw and blood streaming down his face, St Mary’s coaching staff were quick to assume the star Saint was out for the season.
But the Mathieson medallist returned in round 18 and managed two games before the finals, including polling three votes in round 19 on his way to his second GFL best-and-fairest.
“Harry Benson is built different,” St Mary’s physical performance coach Todd Jones said.
“It still amazes me now thinking about what he did, I don’t know how he recovered so quickly.
“Any other bloke would be home and
Harry was at the game the next week to support the boys.
“I had other guys in rehab just shaking their heads watching him go about it, fully admitting they would have packed it in for the year.
“He had no business playing any games after the injury, but he’s almost got a sick mentality of desire, he breathes footy.
“He’d come to me asking for contact, and I almost had to tell him that I felt uncomfortable giving it to him, but he’s just there waiting for it.”
Jones said coaching staff mapped out a return to play schedule for Benson, with a projected a 10-12-week lay-off.
But he said Benson “blew me out of the water” as he compared him to ultra-marathon runner and inspirational speaker David Goggins.
“He’s the GFL version of David Goggins, he lives and breathes it,” Jones said.
“I kept giving him stuff, normal sort of activities that we would do in rehab and he would be begging me for more. He was back on his feet and in the gym in about two weeks, he just came back firing.
“I honestly thought there was no chance he would return before the end of the regular season.
“We all thought he would be a stretch to play a prelim final if we got that deep. We mapped out the year and thought we might get him if we play in those last two weeks of finals, that’s what we were aiming for.”
After winning a second Mathieson Medal, Benson said the trust he had built with Jones was a reason he felt comfortable returning so quickly.
“I spent a lot of time with Todd, working back into running and building that fitness back up after my jaw, he’s been phenomenal,” Benson said.
“I’m the fittest I’ve ever been and he’s been the main guy running all our fitness programs. I didn’t tell him this but I went back to the gym after two weeks, I got back in there slowly but getting my body moving again.”