Mariner Dean Heffernan says he would have done whatever it took to get back on his feet after an 11-month absence from the game.
The defender was the hard luck story of last year’s classic clash between Sydney and Central Coast, breaking his left leg in the dying minutes as the Sky Blues came from behind to secure an incredible 5-4 result.
The match had been re-scheduled to just before Christmas after torrential rain made Gosford’s pitch unplayable, forcing Heffernan to miss his brother’s wedding, although he’d been hoping to make the reception before suffering the injury in a clash with Ufuk Talay.
But 11 months and one aborted come-back down the track, Heffernan is hopeful of playing at least a half of football in Central Coast’s National Youth League clash with the Glory on Saturday.
“It’s just good to be back on the training pitch around the boys again and just everything about playing, I missed it a lot over the last few months,” Heffernan said on Friday after completing a training session at Perth’s Tompkins Park.
“I’m feeling really good. Everything’s going ok with the bone, not really having any problems with the bone at all, just the muscles building back up and getting used to the training.”
“I came back in, probably after four months, played my first game after five months and we thought it was healed but it just wasn’t healed through the middle.”
“The break was still there, so that took me out for a while, the slightest bit of contact and obviously it didn’t feel too good.”
“So in then end we had to go back into plaster for six weeks and stay off it for a further three weeks either side of that.”
“It was pretty tough, but in the end if it’s going to help, I was willing to do anything to get it right. If it meant sitting out the first half of the season then so be it, otherwise you wouldn’t play at all,” he said.
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna will be glad to see Heffernan back in action, as his presence could only bolster a leaky defence, which has conceded 18 goals, the third-worst in the league after Newcastle and Perth.
Heffernan was also looking particularly impressive when he went down with his untimely injury, having worked his way into some form after not seeing any game time during a loan spell with Bundesliga club, Nurnberg during 2006-07.
“I felt like I was getting back to some sort of form at the right time of the year,” said Heffernan.
“But, these things happen, so that was a long time ago, it’s been almost a year. I want to get back into that sort of form (again).”
