‘Whoa, it’s back’: May asked medicos not to tell him extent of injury
Steven May asked Melbourne’s medicos not to tell him the extent of his hamstring injury from the preliminary final.
The star Demons defender then re-injured his hamstring during the grand final but played the game out, becoming a premiership player as the Dees crushed the Western Bulldogs by 74 points at Optus Stadium on Saturday.
Steven May celebrates with Michael Hibberd.Credit:Getty
But May, who hurt his hamstring during the early stages of the preliminary final against Geelong, suspected he had worse than tightness. May was subbed out of that game once the Dees had it in control and in normal circumstances he would likely have faced a stint on the sidelines.
“They didn’t tell me [the damage]. I think I had a little nick and I think in a normal season, three or four weeks. But they didn’t want to tell me that, and I settled really well with my symptoms, I trained and I was strong. So I put my hand up to play,” May said after the grand final.
He had felt fine heading into the decider, but in the second term things went awry.
“I actually wasn’t that sore to start the game. Training and that I was fine,” May said.
“Then in the second quarter I went for a ground ball and I was like ‘whoa, it’s back.’”
However the All-Australian persisted, and while he had some shaky moments, it was all worthwhile.
“I could stay out there and as long as [Aaron] Naughton didn’t take me on the big, long leads, you know, because he’s pretty quick. I never really got myself in those situations, so I was fine.”
May said he “put my hand up” to play straight after the preliminary final and trusted the club’s medicos.
“Australia’s very conservative with our injuries, which is a good thing for us. But over in the premier league and in the NFL and all that they bring them back a bit quicker,” May said.
“I knew it wasn’t impossible … it was sort of risk versus reward – like, can I get through the game and win a premiership?” Or would he “hurt the team by not playing?”
May said he had been symptom-free in training ahead of the game.
“They put it on me and I’m glad I got through and didn’t get subbed out.”
In being part of the Dees’ drought-breakers, May joined former Gold Coast teammates Tom Lynch, Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy in leaving the Suns and becoming an AFL premiership player before the expansion club has even played in a final, let alone won a flag.
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