Melbourne Demons forward Brody Mihocek has revealed he wondered whether he would walk again after breaking his neck in a horrific on-field tackle.
Mihocek, 33, fractured two vertebrae in an incident with former teammate Billy Frampton during the King’s Birthday clash with Collingwood.
He has now spoken for the first time about the terrifying ordeal and revealed what was going through his mind in the immediate aftermath.
‘Your thoughts go to, “I’m going to not be able to walk for the rest of my life,”‘ Mihocek said.
‘I played out scenarios in my head pretty quickly of what life would be like, what life would be like with a family, as well.
‘Once the feeling came back, it was pretty relieving.
Brody Mihocek (pictured with partner Polly) has opened up for the first time since a terrifying incident during Melbourne’s recent match against Collingwood
Mihocek (pictured) has claimed he thought he may not walk again immediately after the tackle
Pictured: Mihocek in the seconds after he broke two vertebrae in his neck when he was tackled by Magpies star Billy Frampton
‘I knew the damage I had was still pretty severe, but it’s funny how quickly you can think of things in the moment.
‘On the day, everyone was pretty calm, I tried to stay pretty calm for everyone.’
The 33-year-old knew he was in trouble a split-second after the initial impact.
‘I heard a massive crack when I hit the ground and lost feeling in pretty much most of my body,’ Mihocek said.
‘The worry kicked in there. I remember yelling out, saying I needed some help.
‘I had some trainers come up to me straight away, and the doctors, but once I started to get feeling back, [it] first started to come in my hips.
‘[Feeling then] slowly started coming to my legs and arms, but [I] was still limited with what I could do with the functions.
‘It was pretty scary, the initial couple of minutes, but I knew I had something pretty bad.’
Mihocek was bent over when disaster struck, with the veteran’s head driven into the turf as Frampton fell.
The 33-year-old has now been ruled out of the rest of the AFL season and faces a long road to recovery.
