Jake Sharp has spoken of his devastation after scans confirmed a complete tear of his anterior cruciate knee ligament.
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Sharp suffered the catalogue of injuries during the third quarter of the Saints' win over Corowa-Rutherglen on Saturday and now faces major knee surgery for the fourth time in his football career.
The 27-year-old is booked in for the operation next Thursday after the results of Tuesday's scan confirmed his worst fears.
"I was pretty emotional when I found out, completely gutted," Sharp said.
"I'd really enjoyed being back playing and felt like I was starting to put some good form together.
"I was in a fair bit of pain when it happened.
"I had contact and the contact shifted my body weight.
"My foot was planted and most of the force went through my knee.
"No matter how strong I was going to be, being in that position, luck wasn't on my side.
"The fact I've done quite a lot of damage in there goes to show the position I was in.
"I was pretty compromised.
"What I felt and heard didn't fill me with much confidence at all and how it presented after the game with the swelling, all of it makes a lot of sense now for how my knee was looking.
"It didn't feel great and the amount of trauma that's gone through it says why."
Sharp was only six games into his comeback from another ACL injury last June.
"It's a pretty big setback," he said.
"It's sucked the life and energy out of me in a playing sense.
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"But in a coaching sense, I couldn't have been more proud of how the boys played on the weekend.
"There's the personal side of it but the team side of it as well.
"To respond to Corowa's mountain charge but to also start to play more of our football and what that looks like was also a positive from the day."
Sharp, who will meet with his surgeon on Monday to discuss the operation and his recovery, is still processing how the game he loves can have dealt him yet another cruel blow.
"I feel a bit ripped off at the moment," he said.
"But in saying that, the amount of people who have reached out to show support, without sport I would never have made those deeper-level connections which, at the end of the day, is a hell of a lot more important.
"To enjoy something and love something so much and then have to work to get back at it so many times, to know that's gone again was a pretty devastating feeling."
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