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Chapter 1: What emotions did Cody Weightman experience during his return to footy?
On Friday night, we all rode with Bulldog Cody Waitman as he made his return to footy after 637 days and any number of surgeries in what will prove one of the feel-good stories of the year. And I'm thrilled to say he's on his way to training to tune up for tomorrow night and he's with us now. Cody, welcome to the program and welcome back to footy.
G'day, Jack. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it was an exciting week and nice to be here. back into, um, some normality with footy and, and heading to training and back into the, the week to week. How'd you pull up from it? Yeah, pulled out well, mate. Um, sort of, I guess after any game I've played in 80 odd now, you always got a bit of sore, but nothing unusual. So yeah, pretty, pretty happy.
And, um, yeah, pretty feeling good. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, I did. I enjoyed it a lot.
Chapter 2: How did Cody prepare mentally for his comeback after numerous surgeries?
Um, it did, it did feel different this time, which was cool. I think, um, probably a little bit more of a different lens on it. I've always, I think, been grateful to play footy and it was always just my dream as a kid. So I've always known that. I was very lucky to be doing that. But this time it did feel a bit different and we got pretty lucky as well.
It was a perfect night on the G. It was a close game against the Hawks who have had our number over recent years. Yeah, it was a really cool night to be a part of.
Did you have any anxieties, any trepidation heading in for all the work that had been done to actually get back out there?
Oh, I think naturally there's always a bit of that. Personally, I know a lot of the boys in the league are the same. You always get a bit anxious and nervous pre-game, which is normal. But I actually found I was probably less this time, if anything, which kind of confused me a little bit early. But I think in a way I was sort of, I felt very much like I couldn't lose this time.
Chapter 3: What was Cody's perspective on the game after being away for 637 days?
I didn't have much pressure on myself to perform because I I sort of knew that the managed minutes and the lead-ups for getting back to this game was fairly solid for me. So just to be there, I felt like I'd already sort of won a little bit. And I was sort of just happy to be there in a way. And I think from now on, I could start building.
But in terms of the anxieties and stuff, I mean, it wouldn't be unusual to have had any, but I was actually probably the opposite, weirdly.
Did you have a moment in the game where you felt like, all right, I'm back in the flow now?
A few moments, I suppose, where, I mean, getting the hands on the ball earlier was nice just to settle. But yeah, I think like there's a couple of times and just going through my edits during the week where I felt like I was sort of doing stuff that I guess I used to.
And it was always a bit of an experiment the first game back, not knowing exactly what that looks like, but even just watching myself, I guess, behind the goals and stuff, I
I feel like there was a little bit of autopilot in some of my game which sort of tapped into what I used to do and I suppose I was kind of just curious to see how much of that I would have lost and how much of that would still be there. I think I was more pleasantly surprised with how normal my game looked and felt a little bit higher up the ground. And actually, it looked a bit different.
But no, I was overall pretty happy in it, yeah.
Did your plan have to change at all?
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Chapter 4: Did Cody experience any anxieties before returning to the field?
So there was a concussion in the first quarter, so you're a man down on the bench. There was a blood rule from time to time. Did the managed minutes pan out, or did you play a little bit more than might have been forecast?
No, I think we're pretty happy with how it all went. Obviously, Ronnie McNeil went down pretty early and I was actually in his rotation. So I was interested to see how that planned out. But they had a pretty good plan for me going in and I'd done a lot of loading prior in my training.
So we knew sort of the window that I was going to be fine to be within and, yeah, sort of fell within that, I'm pretty sure. So, no, I was pretty happy with how...
how it all went that way and then Tim obviously being able to come back on helped and I think a big part of the decision with Bevo was knowing that we had the extra interchange player this year and not necessarily any more interchanges so there's a bit of a sub kind of in the game anyway for a lot of teams at the moment where you've kind of got more players than you need with the limited interchange so I guess that was kind of me and might be me for a little bit but
um that's been helpful in a way for me this year and a good fun game i imagine with all the niggle of the aggro and the hostility and the coming from behind it was a it was a hell of a good night to watch is did it really get the juices flowing out there yeah it would have been it would have been a good watch that's for sure um i didn't go near a fire i didn't have the tickets for that i was pretty aware i was i need to save some juice so i was happy to let the boys do their thing but um
No, it was a really good game. Like I said, Hawthorne have probably had an unbuff a little bit. So it was really nice to sort of make some inroads on that ledger and get a good result.
Did it feel like, so it's the beginning of the next journey.
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Chapter 5: What moments during the game made Cody feel back in the flow?
Did it feel in some ways like the end of this torturous period for you, Cody? You would have been, well, externally you would have been asked to reflect, but just how did you feel the 637 days became a real moniker for the night? Did it feel like the end of something or the beginning of something or the transfer of one journey to the next?
That's an interesting question. I don't know. It's been hard to reflect a little bit still. Probably...
do most of that at the end of the year I think when I'm overseas or whatever but while you're in it you sort of I don't know sometimes I find it hard to reflect and um you kind of just try to stay optimistic and um and sort of I guess looking forward so I've been caught in that a little bit but I did have a little bit of reflection after the game and just from where I've come from and where what I was able to do on the night um it did feel a little bit extra special this time and
And, yeah, again, just to be a part of it, like I didn't want the focus to be on me, but obviously the game was our primary thing and we're able to get that done, which is awesome. But, yeah, it is, I guess, symbolic that it potentially is somewhere in the middle of my career, hopefully, where this whole thing has happened.
At the age of 25 now, hopefully can be halfway through my chapter or my book and that chapter's done and then hopefully there's a few more left
Yeah, I'm sure that there is. It's a lot to deal with, I have no doubt about that. Were there days where it just seemed like so far off that you would be able to get back to professional sport?
Yeah, there's plenty of those.
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Chapter 6: How did Cody's game plan adapt during the match?
I was obviously not in a great way with my knee for a while there and more problem solving for a little while and I suppose it was just the the prolonged ability to start my rehab, which got really hard because I was sort of going backwards for a long time.
Whereas at least when you're in rehab, I suppose the standard common ACL, you start your rehab a couple of months in and you're progressing for the next 10 sort of months and slowly on a bit of a path to getting back. Whereas mine sort of, I don't know how many months it was, but it was a long way into the year before I actually even
Got to start doing some exercise and most of the things I did didn't feel great. And yeah, even just at home, going up the stairs and stuff was a real chore and quite painful. So I had my doubts, that's for sure.
But like I said before, it's only been the last few days that I've sort of owned those because I didn't really want to verbalize anything too negative and own that narrative that it might not happen or anything. So yeah, it's sort of only been recently that I've started to realize how far back I was and how far I've
did come from, but, um, I suppose I'm just, yeah, super grateful for my body at the sort of year in or so it decided to, to work with me and let me get a run at it.
Did you have any warning that's, that this was in your knee and, and that's, um, that it would cause you difficulty at any, until it actually happened?
Uh, well, I broke my knee at training essentially. So there was no warning for the marking contest.
So,
But yeah, I guess like from that point of view, I didn't really have, I hadn't prepared for that at all.
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Chapter 7: What role does art play in Cody's life beyond football?
I think there was an aspect of my knee that was a little bit different from birth, but at the end of the day, I just hit knee on knee and it sort of broke my knee. So yeah, it never caused me issue at all, my knee. So it wasn't something I had in the back of my mind ever happening to me, but that was just the cards I was done, I guess.
And then you've got a fairly constant reminder because your knee's been through a bit. It's just the visual of it gives us a picture on the outside of the number of surgeries and the like. I don't know. What do you think when you look at it? The scars of life are right there for you.
Yeah, I've got a few now. I'm up to 11, I think. I'm at a good rate for my seven seasons. But, yeah, racked up a few on the day. It's got the tram track scars and the same as my elbow, actually.
but no I mean it is what it is it's our job it's part of it I think at the end of the season a few of us will always get sent off for a few fix ups and whatever and it's probably not my favourite part of the job but it is a part of our job and we got it pretty lucky in general so if that's the worst of our job I can handle that but I mean it is actually starting to look a lot better and interestingly I had a lot of
dark pigmentation on my knee which it's still there I suppose you might be able to see I don't know if everyone could tell but that's like actually skin pigment change from the infection so it's not actually bruising which I think can be what it appears to be which is probably worse than the actual skin pigment but the infection actually just changed the colour of my knee so that's been slowly coming good with some red light therapy and stuff which has been great and hopefully over time I think my body will sort of
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Chapter 8: How does Cody view his journey and future in both football and art?
work out what skin colour my knee's supposed to be and hopefully those scars can relax a bit, but they don't really bother me, to be honest.
And you're part of the Bupa Express Your Health campaign, the mural billboard that people will have seen around town. Your contribution is patella. I think in various media outlets, people might have had a bit of a glimpse of this. Just tell us what you've painted.
Yeah, mate, it was a really exciting campaign to be a part of. I had Bupa reach out through my management team In regards to my art and doing a project over in London, it's one of the biggest hand-painted murals in European history, which is pretty cool. So they picked 21 artists and then myself from all around the world.
And it was a really cool one to be part of, I think, because it wasn't footy based. I was being paid in pounds and the communication was all hopeful that I'd be there sort of around this time of year with no knowledge of football happening in my life. That was really cool. And yeah, I went to my design book and I sort of started drawing this little cartoon at the time.
I called him Patella, which is an e-bone I broke. And he was kind of just this little cartoon doing random things that I like doing. And at the time, I obviously couldn't do that, being in and out of surgeries and stuff. So I guess he's a bit of an alter ego. I thought the campaign was all about expressing your health. And I thought he would be a nice little reference point to
to paint and put in that campaign. So got him having a, holding a surfboard and some plans and stuff and just engaging in things that I like. And yeah, it's pretty cool. I've been sent a few photos now of the mural over in London and it's, it's massive. It's like 773 square meters big, I think.
So it takes up a big portion of the building and yeah, it's one of those things that it was really good to have stuff like that during a period where I had a, probably a tougher run with footy and I could engage in other art things and things that could keep me busy.
That's awesome. It looks terrific. And to, and to hear the story behind it and to know that you're part of something so big, that's, uh, that's a lovely part of the story. How, how have you, how are you enjoying your art?
Oh, it's really been great. I, um, I think like when I reflect on footy as a kid, I was, I was a little footy nuffy. I loved Collingwood and I was just obsessed with footy. And then as you get older and you play it more, it sort of,
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