It was midway through 2012, and the knee injury that had plagued the Western Bulldogs star midfielder since his 2008 Brownlow Medal triumph had finally consumed him.
On the field, he was labouring.
His signature burst away from the stoppages had become a mechanical turn and he was sick of the pain
when he ran. Sick of missing games. And sick of feeling like he was disappointing everyone.
Cooney was 26 years old, facing retirement.
“I pretty much knew that I was going to retire at the end of my next contract (the end of 2013), so I spoke to the club doctor, Gary Zimmerman, halfway through 2012 about pulling up stumps,” Cooney said.
The speedster would recall the heady days of 2008. The Dogs were about to embark on three-straight preliminary finals and Cooney had become one of the competition’s premier midfielders, aged only 22.
But the No. 1 draft pick cracked his right patella and damaged his cartilage during a heavy knock in the ‘08 qualifying final.
His condition deteriorated over the next few years, restricting Cooney to just 13 and 14 games in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
He had polled 24 Brownlow votes in his medal winning year but notched only 16 over the next four seasons, playing well below his best.
“It was pretty hard to take because I was 26 -27 and 28 and supposed to be hitting your peak in terms of your footy,” Cooney told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“I was pretty frustrated. Those times when I just couldn’t get out there and couldn’t run.
“I certainly wasn’t able to play up to standard that I wanted.’’
Unable to quickly change up in gears like he used to, Cooney’s usually slick kicking dipped to 51 per cent efficiency in 2011.
Reaching crisis point, Cooney would spend late nights on the computer researching knee injuries, hoping desperately for a cure.
He stumbled upon a club-approved blood-spinning treatment administered in Germany that minimises inflammation and, as last season would prove, save his career.
But the South Australian wasn’t the only one to flourish at the kennel last season, as Brendan McCartney’s young team won four of the last six matches.
The hot finish including a 28-point victory over semi-finalist Carlton, helping put some much-needed meat on the club’s rebuilding vision.
Cooney, now 28, was in dazzling touch towards season’s end, gathering 29 touches in six of their last seven games.
He polled seven Brownlow votes from a possible nine in the last three matches.
Even he was surprised how good he was feeling running the wings.
It was vintage Cooney.
“The body felt good in the first half of the year but I was a bit ‘iffy’ on how things would go in the second half of the year, but, if anything, it probably got better,” he said.
Naturally, rivals circled. Suddenly, the concern was no longer whether Cooney would continue his career beyond last season, but rather whether the Bulldogs could keep him.
The sweet-kicking right-footer was a free agent and loomed as a final piece of the midfield puzzle for a genuine premiership contender, such as North Melbourne.
The year before, Cooney’s best mate Brian Lake got out of the kennel. In a way, it was the perfect departure.
The Dogs claimed impressive teenage midfield-forward Nathan Hrovat via the draft in the trade-off and Lake became a premiership hero at Hawthorn, taking the crucial marks in defence that would stave off the relentless Fremantle fight back.
“It was a good afternoon,” Cooney said after watching on from the MCG stands.
“I was pretty proud of him. He’s been through a fair bit in the past few years and it was a hard move for him going to Hawthorn, but he saw the opportunity and he took it with both hands.”
With premiership and Norm Smith medals hanging around Lake’s neck, Cooney watched his best mate drink from the premiership cup as the euphoria swirled around both of them in the Hawthorn change rooms on grand final night.
Was he envious? For sure. Did it make Cooney think twice about leaving the Whitten Oval?
“Not really. I said all long I wanted to stay at the Bulldogs I think the future is bright,” he said.
“There is no reason why hopefully in a couple of years I can’t be playing in a premiership as well.”
There is much work to do, as coach McCartney likes to repeat, for the club that has finished 15th in the past two seasons.
But Cooney believes the underbelly of midfield talent that has emerged is rich enough in quality and determination to crack the league’s long-running premiership drought.
“It was one of the main reasons I signed a two-year deal,” he said.
“Just to see the improvement of the younger players was terrific and a lot of people didn’t see it coming.
“When you see the guys like ‘Libba’, who I think is only in his fourth year and won the clearances in the AFL.
“Wally (Mitch Wallis) is another one, only a young player. Then there’s Macrae, Stringer, Bontempelli.
“Guys who are going to come in and have 10-year careers. So, yeah, hopefully they can be stars of the game and lead us to another flag.
“There is certainly the depth and talent. It’s just whether these guys can take the next step, get their bodies strong and fit.
“But there’s certainly a good mix of inside and outside players.”
After playing a lot on the back flank and wing last year, Cooney is eyeing more midfield time.
Encouragingly, Cooney has completed 80 per cent of the pre-season training load.
His knee is now a minor issue. The all-Australian can have a kick in the backyard with his son without worry and he no longer cops a spray from his wife about “hardening up” when he was feeling deflated about the injury.
The family time, he says with a wry smile, added important perspective to Cooney’s life when his football career was on an injury-induced downward spiral.
But things are much better, now.
“This pre-season I have just been having some maintenance, some PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections (to stimulate cartilage growth) pretty much only when I need it,” he said.
“It’s been pretty good. I’ve been doing pretty solid leg weights and some pretty solid squats which I haven’t done for a few years.
“Touch wood, it’s all feeling all right.”
http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/afl/western-bulldogs-star-adam-cooney-feared-a-knee-injury-would-end-his-career/story-fniv6fwe-1226821308903
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