‘The bone came out there:’ Howe opens up on two ‘car-crash’ injuries

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Regrets, Jeremy Howe has a few – but none about his trade from Melbourne to Collingwood.

The ex-Demon became a Magpie in a four-club deal at the end of 2015 that saw a bunch of picks exchanged, Ben Kennedy put on the red and blue, Jimmy Toumpas join Port Adelaide, and Paul Seedsman cross to the Crows.

Collingwood star Jeremy Howe is enjoying his football as much as ever.Credit: AFL Photos

Seedsman’s concussion-related retirement a fortnight ago means Howe is the last of that quartet still playing in the AFL – and comfortably the most distinguished – as he and Collingwood prepare to take on Melbourne in Thursday’s qualifying final.

“I still say that getting traded to Collingwood was easily the greatest decision I’ve made, in terms of my professional career,” Howe said.

“I think the clubs, Melbourne and Collingwood, both got what they wanted. I wasn’t performing, I wasn’t enjoying my footy, and if I tried to stick it out, I don’t reckon I would have enjoyed it. There was a contract on the table, but I decided I needed a fresh start. I didn’t have to go too far – I shared the same carpark.”

As for those regrets, the 230-game defender, one of three vice-captains at the Pies, wishes he didn’t flip upside down while defying gravity for the umpteenth time in round one this year.

Howe’s aerial collision with Geelong’s Tyson Stengle, or at least the aftermath, was so gruesome that the broadcaster chose not to replay it, and the pain was horrific. He suffered six breaks in his left arm, including two in his elbow, and the scar after four surgeries is almost the length of his heavily tattooed forearm.

“The bone came out there,” Howe said, pointing a couple of inches from the main scar.

There are metal plates in the 33-year-old’s arm, and he received special permission from the AFL to wear a compression sleeve during games for extra protection. An infectious disease doctor recently gave Howe’s arm the all-clear, so he plans to leave the plates in until at least the end of his playing days.

Howe was extremely durable for most of his career, but the setback in the season-opener was his second major one in three years, behind a horror knee injury in early 2020.

Jeremy Howe suffered a serious arm injury.Credit: Getty | The Age

“My two main injuries both got referred to as car crashes,” he said. “When I got smacked in the femur; I snapped my PCL and MCL, and tore all the ligaments out of my knee. So again – that’s not like a standard ACL. That gave me issues for 18 months … and I ended up having four surgeries to get it all fixed.

He has previously explained that while the strength and function in his arm has returned to normal, it could take up to 12 months to regain full feeling in his fingertips.

“Snapping my arm in four different places was not ideal. That was a pretty hard one to swallow because I put together such a strong summer, and it’s amazing how quickly it can come to a pretty big halt.”

Howe spent more than a week away from the club, with his wife Kahlia and their two-year-old son Zander, after confiding in coach Craig McRae about the mental challenges he was dealing with.

Howe takes his famous mark over Tom McDonald in 2017.Credit: AFL Media

“I just needed a recharge and a refresh. I said to ‘Fly’ (McRae), ‘When I come back in, I want to be all-in’, and through hospital, I just wasn’t myself and needed a break,” he said. “It’s probably the one injury I really respected and gave it every chance to heal. Fortunately enough, it came along relatively quickly, considering how bad it was.”

It took some time for Howe to overcome the trauma of the injury but he insists the Stengle incident will not stop him launching for another trademark sky-scraping mark if he gets the chance on Thursday night.

The Demons have proven perfect stepladders for the spring-heeled specialist across the years, none more so than his old mate Tom McDonald. Howe somehow failed to win a second mark of the year for that stunning grab over McDonald in 2017.

“With any luck, he [McDonald] plays this week,” Howe said, before breaking into one of his hearty laughs. “He generally puts himself in the right spot.”

Howe remains eternally grateful that former Melbourne recruiter Barry Prendergast spotted him playing for Hobart in the Tasmanian State League in 2010, even if he was actually there to watch a player on the other team, Jaye Bowden.

The other person he owes plenty of gratitude to is his old Dodges Ferry coach, Danny Ling, who convinced Howe to leave his mates at the local club behind to play in the state league and keep his AFL dream flickering.

“I was 21 in my first year in the system, and to look back now, going back 12-13 years, it’s pretty crazy to think how it all unfolded,” Howe said.

“To play 200-plus games at the highest level is something I’m incredibly proud of. I’m probably not in a stage of reflection too much, but at the same time, the joy that my family and all that get is one of the most important things – they’re all mad footy nuts back home. My dad was mad Collingwood his whole life.

“It’s the enjoyment for me as well. I probably haven’t enjoyed my footy ever as much as I have lately, so it’s nice.”

Jeremy Howe and his wife Kahlia.Credit: Shaney Balcombe

Part of that is Howe savouring every moment as his playing career nears an end. He also has fresh perspective since Zander entered his life.

But football, or the AFL, will not be lost to him in retirement, having already become a level-three accredited coach alongside Scott Pendlebury.

The coaching itch began during his recovery from his 2020 knee injury, working with then-Collingwood assistants Justin Longmuir and Matthew Boyd.

“I started watching a lot of vision, coding games and taking meetings. I loved that stuff, and it probably started getting me in the coaching space,” Howe said. “Me and ‘Pendles’ have done all our level coaching together … there’s only level four [left to do], and that’s pretty much only if you want a head coaching role. I don’t think I’m mad enough to be a head coach yet – ‘Pendles’ certainly is. “I’m contracted for next year, so I’ll reassess at the end of next year and see how we go.”

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