Black Fern wants jersey back
Grace Brooker just wants to be a player again.
Highlighted by assisting the Black Ferns with video analysis during the World Cup, it’s not like she’s been bored while rehabilitating the knee injury she suffered during last year’s northern tour.
However, the 23-year-old midfielder is beyond itching to play again.In fact, there might not be a player more excited for Super Rugby Aupiki to roll around in February than Matatu¯ ’s Brooker.
‘‘I dream about getting my jersey, or hopefully getting my jersey, every night, honestly,’’ Brooker said.
‘‘I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to play, but I’m just so excited to be a player again.’’
She hasn’t played since rupturing her patellar tendon playing against England last November, the first serious injury of her career, one which forced her to miss the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki, Canterbury’s Farah Palmer Cup triumph in September, and the Black Ferns’ successful World Cup defence on home soil this month.
After going off injured and seeing a ‘‘massive hole in my leg where my knee cap should be’’, she was told she would be sidelined for nine to 12 months.
Brooker immediately told herself she’d be back in nine months, no later. After all, she had a World Cup squad to push for a spot in.
But her body didn’t respond as quickly as she’d hoped, forcing her to accept the cold, hard truth – she would not play again until Super Rugby Aupiki in 2023.
Having ‘‘begged’’ Matatu¯ management to take her to Taupo¯ for this year’s competition in a support role, it was then when the seeds were planted for Brooker to go on and play an off-field role in the Black Ferns’ World Cup glory.
Brooker credits Matatu¯ attack coach Tony Christie for teaching her how he analyses the game, the nitty-gritty details he looks for when scouting opposition.
Fast-forward to the Black Ferns’ World Cup warmup match against Japan in September, and Brooker, after Black Ferns and Matatu¯ assistant coach Whitney Hansen’s recommendation to head coach Wayne Smith, was putting together video analysis for the team.
‘‘I got straight into it ... so I had already previewed Japan and showed him what I had done. He was like, ‘that’s absolutely perfect’.’’
So, in a small building tucked away at Rugby Park in Christchurch, Brooker did the same for each of the Black Ferns’ opponents, looking for opposition tendencies and weaknesses New Zealand might be able to exploit.
‘‘I’ll be honest, going into it [the final], I was like ‘how do you beat a team like England? They are so clinical and so organised’.
‘‘Then, watching it, I was like, ‘hang on, there is actually little opportunities’. I think we saw in the final they took all those little opportunities and made it count. So surreal.’’
A long, challenging journey is how Brooker sums up the past year, which also featured her following in her mum’s footsteps and becoming a St John recruit, but one that is coming to an end.
She’s back surfing, playing golf and touch again, and has even resumed contact training as her dream of pulling on the Matatu¯ jersey and being a player again draws closer.
‘‘In my mindset and physically, I’m confident I’ll be able to play . . . but because I have been a Black Fern doesn’t mean I’m going to rock up and get that 12 or 13 jersey straight away, I’ve got to earn it.
‘‘It will be something like 15 months since playing rugby, so there’s definitely going to be some stepping stones there.’’