By Paddy Regester
After tearing her ACL at the tail end of the 2019 season, Collingwood Magpies midcourt star Kelsey Browne has revealed that she is on track for a Round 1 return.
Browne spoke about her road to recovery with the RSN Breakfast Club radio show on Thursday morning, confirming that the extended pre-season has given her the opportunity to get her knee right to play in time for the season launch.
"I have said a number of times, I'm the luckiest athlete there is, as I'm sure anyone who has had an injury has been looking at it."
"In the last six months I've had a lot of phone calls from girls saying 'gosh it's a ten month preseason!' and I've said push it back longer."
"August 1st, we're all really excited now. I think everyone has had a nice freshen up and a bit of a break and looked at it as a bit of an opportunity to get away from netball and now everyone is raring to go."
When asked if she would be ready to play if the season was starting this weekend however, Browne admitted that there is still work to be done before the team gives her the green light to play.
"No, not this weekend... I've got probably six to eight full weeks of training that I need to prove that I can get through and then start the season. Luckily enough there's plenty of time for that."
Browne tore her ACL during the Round 13 match between the Magpies and the NSW Swifts, causing her to miss the final regular season match of the year as well as the team's semi-final showdown with the Melbourne Vixens and the Constellation Cup series as part of the Australian Diamonds squad.
Since then, she has taken an extremely positive approach to her recovery, planning out her rehabilitation week-to-week and focussing on achieving key milestones.
"For me, it was all about ticking the boxes of what I wanted to do every week, and I planned my rehab out like that."
"Because I had that kind of mindset, it felt very quick. I still can't believe that I'm nine and a half month post-surgery. It's been as much a tough experience as a good one for me."
Browne also spoke about the importance of Sunday's announcement that the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season would get underway on August 1.
"I think people have underestimated the importance setting that start date was. It's been quite a long process and I know a lot lengthy discussions have happened."
"I'm really proud that we finally got one. Everyone at the club is ready and raring to go. Everyone is just excited to see each other again."
