Nine months and one day.
In that time, the NPL Victoria has seen three teams depart – North Geelong Warriors, Dandenong Thunder and Werribee City – with three more – Melbourne Victory, Richmond SC and Bulleen Lions – joining its ranks.
In that time, Heidelberg United pulled 12,000 people into Olympic Village while Hume City stormed to an FFA Cup Semi-Final – in which they fell 3-0 to Melbourne Victory. Winger Jai Ingham traded clubs following that FFA Cup run, and has since made a positive impact with the Victory.
In that time, Troy Ruthven won Bentleigh Greens an NPL Victoria title with a stunning strike from distance, before departing the club, re-joining the side and stringing together a series of impressive performances to start the season.
Nine months and one day.
In that time, Bentleigh’s star forward Matt Thurtell has battled his mental, emotional and physical demons to overcome a second knee reconstruction in what is only a short career. He’s cruelly watched from the sidelines as his teammates played out a Championship winning season, which would’ve been his first at senior level. He’s put in hours and hours of repeat efforts, laps upon laps on the same track to build his strength back, hit the gym with mechanical procedure and worked closely with specialists in Brisbane to get back on the park.
“Nine months and one day it was since I came back for my first game,” says Thurtell after his two-goal performance in the FFA Cup victory on Friday night.
His comeback performance was actually the week prior, a 20-minute cameo off the bench at Somers Street, as Bentleigh grabbed a 3-1 away win over Avondale FC. He however admits the pace of that game caught him off guard on that day.
“It was a tough time against Avondale – I struggled quite a lot. Today it was nice to get a few touches and play much better,” Thurtell says.
“The plan was 45 [minutes], I got 20 minutes in at Avondale. There was only a couple minutes left in the half and unfortunately Kamal [Ibrahim] went down; hopefully he’ll be alright. So not the introduction [I wanted] but a couple of extra minutes, I got a goal, it was a nice way to get back into it.”
He adjusted into the FFA Cup tie swiftly, and needed too as his first interaction with the ball resulted in a chance on goal. A fizzing ball from the right was hit behind the forward, who was forced to halt his darting run and stretch his leg backwards to control the ball, taking a touch forward to clear his feet and dispatch all in one neat movement.
Bentleigh Greens 6 v 1 Diamond Valley | 18.3.16HIGHLIGHTS | Take a look at all the action from Friday’s Westfield FFA Cup victory over Diamond Valley, with braces from Chris Lucas, Matt Thurtell and they unlikely Jack Webster.
Posted by Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club on Tuesday, 22 March 2016
It was a good way to test out the troublesome leg, and an even better way of building confidence for the striker, who went on to find the back of the net for a second time, as well as set up another.
“Mentally I’m good. I know I’ve done everything I possibly can to get my knee right. Physically I feel really good as well, I’m strong in the knee,” he says.
“I’ve got to get match fitness, but that going to come with time. I feel confident coming back, I wouldn’t be out on the park if I wasn’t feeling confident with my knee and with myself. I’m feeling really good.
“It’s like I’ve never left, it was really good to be back out there. I’ve been around training for three months so it’s really nice to be out there and enjoying myself.”
Thurtell’s road to recovery was similar to his first – he spent the first few months back home in Brisbane, and opted to work with the same surgeon and recovery team. There, he was treated to the creature comfort of home, with the support of his family helping him through some of the tougher times.
“I spent six months back in Brisbane to just recover, be with my family. It was easier to be there. I went with the same surgeon as my first one for my other leg.
“There were extensive periods in the gym working with my physio at home. If you haven’t done an ACL, you probably wouldn’t understand the time and effort put in to come back.”
He of course flew back for the NPL Grand Final, as he helped rally his teammates to a memorable victory over South Melbourne in early September. The move permanently back to Victoria came in December, six months into his recovery timeline. Thurtell admits it was hard to watch on as his Greens teammates trained on around him, and also detailed some of the darker moments of his recovery process.
“I came back here at the six month period so I integrated back into training. Before Christmas, it took me a couple of weeks before I put my boots on. I could just do passing drills, or running around the side of the field while the rest of the team was training.
“I’ve been doing my rehab here with Christian Woodford and it’s been really positive. He’s put an amazing amount of confidence in my knee and in myself. The amount of time and effort I’ve put in – people don’t see you going down to the park and doing your runs after four months – in absolute agony running.
“They don’t see the days straight after surgery where you’re throwing up.”
Thurtell knew what was ahead of him. It wasn’t the first time he’d suffered a serious knee injury, with the prolific forward tearing the ACL in his left knee in mid-2013. He had fast established himself as one of the best players in the Queensland State League, averaging well over a goal a game for the Brisbane Strikers in his time with the club between 2010 to 2014. There were moments of self-doubt, even though he’d been through it all before. A mental battle as much as it was physical.
“A lot of people said it’s easier the second time. You still worry – you get pains and you wonder ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ I knew what to expect; I teamed up with some good people back home and here.
“But Bentleigh have been nothing but fantastic helping me out. They’ve helped me back into training and it’s just nice to be back out there.”
The patience shown by Bentleigh is a sign of the esteem both club and manager John Anastasiadis hold the youngster in. While Thurtell still harbours ambitions at a higher level – having had a taste coming through the Queensland Institute of Sport and the Brisbane Roar NYL affiliate – he’s happy to bide his time for now and repay some of the faith shown by those out of Kingston Heath.
“I’ll always have ambitions, I’d always love to get to the next level but right now I’ve got to get back playing.
“I need to play, I need to enjoy myself and that’s when I play best. Right now I’m focusing on the team and helping the team win as well as getting them back up the table.
“At Brisbane Strikers, we made the Grand Final four years in a row and we lost each one. I was there when [Bentleigh] won the Grand Final which was great, but it killed me watching from the sidelines.
“Our goal needs to be to win the league. A Grand Final is a one-off game – we let [the league] slip. Our ambition is to win the league and do well in the FFA Cup as well. We love to go as far as we can in everything that we do.
“Push for that number one spot and then cross finals when we come to it.”
So while it’s been a hard slog for the man affectionately known as ‘Turtle’, he’s hoping the slow and steady progression made will stand him in good stead for years ahead. For nine months and one day is but a small fraction of the time he’s got left in front of him.
Feature image: Anita Milas