It was the last thing he saw coming.
When West Coast’s first selection in the 2018 NAB AFL Draft Xavier O’Neill arrived in Perth last year he could not wait to get into the nitty gritty of his first AFL pre-season.
But just a few months into his first summer slog the previously uninjured O’Neill picked up a knee ailment that he couldn’t seem to shake.
The determined 18-year-old tried to train through the pain, but he soon realised that was untenable.
“During training I started to notice a little click in my knee,” O’Neill said.
“It was fine at first and I trained through it but then in the running sessions it really flared up and it got to the point where I needed to stop running.
“I pinched my medial plica. It’s just a little flap of the lining of the knee cap. I pinched that and it got inflamed.
“I rested over the Christmas break, got back and took about a week off, but then I re-pinched it so we decided to remove it via surgery.
“Hopefully with that gone I shouldn’t have any problems moving forward.”
Although he missed the rough and tumble of main training during his setback, the Oakleigh Charger learned some valuable lessons in the club’s rehabilitation group.
By observing the likes of Jamie Cripps, Nic Naitanui and Josh Kennedy go about their respective recoveries, O’Neill quickly realised he would get nowhere doing things by halves.
“The main lesson I learned is that doing extras is essential,” O’Neill revealed.
“You don’t want to be silly with it and overwork yourself to the point where you put yourself in a worse position, but even an extra cardio session can help you get out of rehab sooner.”
Since he has been back up and running, O’Neill has been trying to keep pace with the club’s leading midfielders in a bid to hasten his development.
When he’s not shadowing his premiership-winning teammates at training, he can usually be found combing over footage to find out what makes the best tick.
“I’ve been watching a fair bit of vision and the guys I’m looking at most of the time are Andrew Gaff and Luke Shuey,” he revealed.
“Gaffy, you just know what you are going to get with him. When you watch game play footage, he’s just constantly working his ass off.
“Shuey just grinds it out and focuses on using his strengths. That’s what I’m being encouraged to do, play to my strengths. For me that would be my kicking, being dynamic and finding a way to use my endurance and my speed.”
O'Neill is set to make his debut in blue and gold tomorrow, albeit for the club’s WAFL side.
He will play limited minutes through the midfield against East Fremantle at New Choice Homes Park.
“It’s been about six months since I played a proper game, so it should be good to blow the cobwebs out,” O’Neill said.
“Obviously I want to get through and be right for WAFL round one, but I just want to go out and play my role. If I can get a bit of the ball that would be nice.
“I want to establish that trust with my teammates that you only get from playing with them.”
Bouncedown for the WAFL Eagles’ practice match against the Sharks is 11am.
