Star Blackhawk back in action Zac survives health scare
BLACKHAWKS star Zac Santo has revealed just how close he came to a potentially serious illness after doctors discovered a bone infection in his leg following the team’s trip to Papua New Guinea.
The Charters Towers product suffered a cut after jumping in the pool at the team’s motel in Port Moresby but he paid little mind to the injury as he continued to take the field for the Blackhawks.
Santo played five games before he questioned the club’s medical staff about a lump on his leg and he had to be rushed into surgery to remove part of the bone, which had become infected.
“I had a lump in my leg from when I did it but nothing was hurting. I just said to the doc ‘should I worry about this lump? It’s not going away’,” Santo said.
“We got an X-ray on the Monday and he just said ‘ you need to go to hospital right now’. ‘You’ve got an infection in the bone and you need to have surgery on that’.
“I still didn’t realise the sort of gravity of it. Because it wasn’t hurting I just thought I’ll have this surgery and get it out then I’ll be right to run next week.
“I had a drip in my arm and by the end of it I was like ‘holy’. I could’ve been in serious danger if I’d have let it go any further.
“It didn’t get into my bloodstream or anything so I think I got pretty lucky with it to be honest.”
The Blackhawks feared Santo could be out for the season given the unusual nature of his illness but he will be back in action this afternoon when they host the Hunters at Jack Manski Oval.
Nathan Traill has stepped up to claim the fullback role in recent weeks with Santo set to make his injury comeback on the wing where he scored a club record 31 tries in 24 games in 2015.
Santo insisted his leg still wasn’t giving him any grief and he was more worried about rebuilding his match fitness after being cooped up at home and unable to train.
“I couldn’t go to school, I couldn’t work. I was just sitting at home for four weeks doing absolutely nothing so it was just good to get out and see people and run and stuff,” he said.
“My lungs were hurting the other day just getting back because I haven’t been allowed to sweat for four weeks and then I’m straight back into running so it took my body by shock more than anything.
“I know Trailly’s been playing pretty well at fullback and it’ll be good just to get a bit of running and game sense so I’m OK with playing on the wing.” The Blackhawks have kept the win column ticking over in Santo’s absence with a six-game winning streak including a 22-10 victory over the second-placed Burleigh Bears heading into last weekend’s bye.
Santo said it was “awesome” to see his teammates perform so well and he felt there was a growing confidence within the team as they charge into the finals.
“The way the boys were talking it seems real positive. No one was confident that we were going to beat them (Burleigh), but we just went about our jobs and it was a really good win,” he said.
“It really showed us that we’re in that higher level in the top four.”