DETERMINED: Fremantle Anthony Morabito (left) says he never considered giving up on his AFL dream. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: HWT Image Library
ANTHONY Morabito says he never considered quitting after doing his knee for the third time in January and is still confident he can have a successful AFL career.
Speaking for the first time since his latest knee operation, the luckless Fremantle midfielder said he was unable to set a date for a football comeback because he was the first AFL footballer to undergo a hybrid LARS operation.
Morabito, who had both synthetic and hamstring grafts used to reconstruct his left knee, is hopeful of joining full training during the first half of the season.
He completed straight-line running drills up and down Fremantle Oval this morning.
"I just look forward to training every day now and improving on a daily basis with the knowledge that football is going to happen at some stage this year,'' he said.
"Being back in and around the boys is something I was looking forward to and being able to get back out on the track and actually start running ... is something I've been very excited about.
"I've obviously been through two traditionals, but this has a different type of excitement to it."
Morabito said he immediately knew he had torn his left anterior cruciate ligament for a third time during an innocuous training accident in January.
The 21-year-old said Sydney Grand Final hero Nick Malceski, who has twice had LARS surgery, had been instrumental in his surgery decision.
"Initially I was pretty much under the impression that the traditional method was the one that I would have to go for," he said.
"Then I got a phone call from Nick Malceski and he sort of planted the LARS picture inside my head and I was able to then make contact with the doctors and Ross (Lyon) and a few of the guys here and do a bit of research into it.
"We didn't just go for the standard LARS procedure, which is just the artificial graft going in. We went for a hybrid graft, which incorporates the LARS with part of your own hamstring tendon.
"The aim of that is to get the short turnaround of the LARS but also have the longevity of a hamstring graft over time.
"I never thought about giving it away. I was, as you could imagine, pretty distraught when it happened, just due to the fact, like I said, that I had put in all the hard work and I thought I wasn't too far off and I hit all the KPIs.
"Once you get past all the messages and the well wishes and everything else, you sort of as a footballer have to go to 'what's next?'.
"So for me, once I'd got through all the emotional stage of it, I was actually looking forward to seeing what my options were and what could eventually eventuate.
"Luckily for me, that phone call from Malceski came at the right time, because it really put me on the path to where I wanted to go.''
Morabito, who has not played since his debut season in 2010, said going through three knee reconstructions had ensured he matured quickly.
"I wouldn't be the person I am if I hadn't gone through the stuff I'd gone through," he said.
"You're not thankful for it happening, but it has given me a different perspective on stuff.
"It's taught me how to be patient, it's taught me there's stuff that you don't want to do that you have to do if you want to get to places.
"I'm just looking forward to what the future holds. I have no doubts in my football ability.
"I'd like to think there still is football ahead of me."
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