This week, after opting against surgery, Brisbane announced they’ll give Joe Daniher four to six weeks to rebuild the muscle around his shoulder and hopefully get to a point where it can function. If it subluxes, or partially dislocates, again, surgery will be the only option.

In 1997, I was faced with the same dilemma after injuring my shoulder in round one. We’d won the flag in ’96 and, naturally, I wanted to be a part of another tilt.

It was early enough in the season to go down the surgery path, and I returned in just 10 weeks. The standard recovery time is more like 12-16 weeks.

We had a great medical team at North Melbourne at the time, with Dr Harry Unglik, who also spent 16 years as chief medical officer at the AFL, a top physio in Roger Moore and many others who contributed. Denis Pagan was also, obviously, a keen observer of his players’ recovery.

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Not for a second do I blame any of them for allowing me to play. They were guided by my own determination to get back.

Ultimately, I’m paying the price now for the calls I made and that pursuit of success in the ’90s.

It’s why the AFL Players Association is crucial in helping ex-players. Future CBA negotiations must continue to include significant funding for players once their careers are done.

I’m one of the lucky ones who has private health cover, and the AFLPA’s fund will pay any gap fees. For those with less financial security, that can be a godsend.

I’ll be checking in with renowned shoulder surgeon Greg Hoy, who is widely regarded as the best in the business and has operated on some of the biggest names in the game.

Greg says my shoulder is “about as bad as it can get”.

In the 30 years since my first shoulder reconstruction, the knowledge of these types of surgeries has improved “exponentially”. So, too, has the technology.

Until quite recently, shoulder replacements didn’t guarantee the same success that came with similar surgery on hips and knees.

But now, according to Greg, I’ll be having a pyrocarbon replacement. It’s apparently similar to graphite and melted at around 1300 degrees.

Once in place it should relieve the pain and increase the range of movement. But Hoy says he’d much prefer it didn’t get to this point.

In his words, players aren’t just pushing the limit with their injury management and recovery, they’re “past the limit”.

“[Most players] dream for many years of playing AFL, and don’t think of the future,” he says.

“That can be a roadblock for working out the right thing to do.

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“They think, ‘oh it’s just a shoulder,’ unlike ACLs where you just get it done.”

He adds: “A bit like concussion, we have to get more serious about long-term outcomes. We can get a player up for a month, or a season, but let’s get a lifetime out of them.”

So, while we should continue to admire the incredible bravery of everyone playing our great game, my message to the current players is: don’t ever feel guilty about getting your body right. You’ll thank yourself later.

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