Myrtleford young gun Will Quirk is set to miss the next six months after a training mishap.
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Quirk recently relocated to Melbourne to train with Northern Bullants in a bid to earn a spot on their list in the new-look VFL competition.
But his VFL aspirations are over for at least 12 months after seriously injuring his knee last week.
"We were doing a full ground drill and I was running down the ground and looking back at the ball," Quirk said.
"My foot went into a bit of a divot in the oval and my body twisted on my knee and I heard a crunch and a crack and I fell over.
"I knew straight away it wasn't good because of the sound it made.
"Initially the trainers thought I had dislocated my knee and that it had gone back into place.
"But scans revealed that I had chipped the bottom of my femur and damaged the cartilage."
Quirk underwent surgery at Albury last Friday and now faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
"The surgeon cut me open down the middle of my knee and put a mould on the bottom of the femur which is then screwed into place," he said.
"I also had some new cartilage inserted.
"I suppose the positive is that it wasn't an ACL."
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Despite not rupturing his ACL, Quirk still faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
"The surgeon said that I will initially need to be on crutches for the first two weeks," he said.
"Then I have to go back to see the surgeon and if things have gone to plan I will need to wear a knee brace after that.
"He expects it to take six months to fully recover."
Quirk refuses to rule himself out for the year and is clinging onto the hope that he can recover in time to play the last month of the season and ultimately finals.
"I'm hoping to be back playing by early August," he said.
"Obviously I'll have to come back through the twos but I'm hoping I can force my way back into the senior side.
"But I'm not going to rush it because knees can be complicated and I don't want it to hamper me for the rest of my career.
"I only turn 20 next month so I have still got a lot of footy ahead of me hopefully."
With no football last season, Quirk elected to have a shoulder reconstruction which he has fully recovered from.
The running defender cemented his spot in the Saints' line-up in 2019 and played a pivotal role in their finals charge before losing to eventual premier Lavington in the preliminary final.
The Saints host North Albury for their season opener.
