Injuries to professional players

Geelong are such a strong team and they have players that stand out all over the field. But Tom Lonergan, who had to have a kidney removed after a collision with another player, plays so courageously, though I also have to query how one plays with only half a mechanism that's supposed to filter the waste from your blood, and probably has to work even harder when one is so active and trains everyday. These days, Lonergan plays with a special kidney guard that the general public seem certain will be sufficient to protect his other kidney.

Lonergan apparently said after his comeback game to the AFL on 31 May this year that he would "celebrate moderately — having only one kidney prohibits him from drinking "endless amounts of alcohol"." I can't believe he would even consider doing it, let alone that a comment like that would be published! While it is great that he has decided not to let the 'injury' hold him back from achieving his goals and dreams, it is, as he said so himself, a very different injury from the more common joint or limb injuries. There are more potential implications to consider. Often, players who have decided, many since their early teens or even younger, to pursue professional sporting careers cannot imagine life without that sport/game, but there is one. It may not come easily or as naturally as sport, which has been the focal point of their energies thus far, but it may be sought and found.

I hope Tom knows what he is doing, what he could potentially be getting himself into, and wish him all the best. The way that Geelong is playing, he and his teammates could very well be holding the trophy aloft at the end of the month