Wodonga’s Tom Johnson will miss the rest of the season after he dislocated his left ankle and fractured his leg during Saturday’s win over Yarrawonga.
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Johnson suffered the horror injury early in the final quarter.
He had a plate and up to 12 screws inserted during surgery at Albury hospital late Sunday night.
“I haven’t really had much pain through the whole thing,” Johnson said.
“Even when it happened I joked around with the runner, who’s also my boss in Danny Cohen.
“I told him I wouldn’t be at work on Monday.
“I think he was about to laugh, but he didn’t think it was the right time.”
Johnson says he’ll never forget the compassion shown by Yarrawonga’s Matt Gorman, who went immediately to his aid.
“I saw him straight above me and waving his arms around (to the trainers),” he said.
“That shows he’s not just in it for the game, white line fever, it’s actually really nice for someone to do that.”
Yarrawonga had just stolen the lead after launching a comeback.
“Your natural instincts take over when something like that happens,” Gorman said.
“I didn’t even think twice about chasing the ball.
“I heard a crack and heard the way he responded and I was like, ‘if that happened to me, I’d probably want that bloke to stick around and make sure I was alright’.
“At the end of the day, it’s only a game of footy, so I probably would, yeah, do it again straight away.”
Johnson, who arrived at Wodonga last year, was also thankful for his club’s support.
“Dean (Harding, Wodonga coach) had to tell 30 blokes not to worry about coming in because they were all lining up to come and have a chat,” he said.