FRACTURE LIKE A VEHICLE ACCIDENT
MEDICO STUNNED BY CRONK’S ‘HEROICS’
THE Sydney Roosters’ doctor has revealed Cooper Cronk played the NRL grand final with a staggering 15cm break in his scapula – an injury consistent with a car-crash victim.
Roosters medico Ameer Ibrahim has given an extraordinary account of the pain Cronk endured to inspire Sydney’s 21-6 premiership defeat of Melbourne at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night.
Dr Ibrahim says Cronk’s effort is the greatest display of toughness he has seen in Australian sport in his 20 years as a sports medico.
Such was Cronk’s level of pain he was given two shots of local anaesthetic before kickoff and again at half-time, when Roosters trainers cut his jersey off and injected into sites on his shoulder marked with black ink.
Cronk was given almost the maximum dosage of painnumbing anaesthetic. Any more could have triggered heart problems.
“It was the most heroic thing I’ve seen in 20 years – never seen anything like it,” Ibrahim said as Cronk stood metres away in the Roosters dressing room using his jersey as a sling.
“He would have been in 11 out of 10 pain coming here to the game.
“That fracture is what you see with motorbike accidents and car accidents.
“It (the break) was the width of his scapula – the entire width, which would have been 15cm.
“I’ve never seen it done. Everyone I spoke to (in the medical fraternity) hadn’t done it.
“I knew he wasn’t going to do any more damage. It’s a broken bone but it’s not a weight-bearing bone.
“The other thing to note is that it was the maximum dose we could give him. Anything more and it starts playing with your heart. If you give someone too much local anaesthetic their heart goes into a funny rhythm.”
“We gave him 20ml before the match and 15ml at halftime. The maximum we could give him was 45ml.”
Ibrahim initially gave Cronk no hope, but when he contacted another medico, Craig Harris, for assistance, the footballing miracle took shape.
Cronk lauded the support of the Roosters’ doctors.
“This wasn’t possible without the medical staff,” he said. “There wasn’t enough hours in the day and the way they researched things and were so innovative, I had to repay their faith in me.”
Star winger Blake Ferguson showed up to the fan day in a moon boot and on crutches. It was revealed he played much of the second half with a broken fibula.
“It was definitely worth it, it’s all a bit of carry on,” Ferguson told the crowd.