southerncross
12-05-2007, 07:37 AM
Just found this
Hardman Hargrave (http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21714427-21543,00.html)
RYAN Hargrave tells a story about pulling staples out of his stomach using scissors while on a boat.
It is cringeworthy and slightly mad but, in a way, it sums up the under-rated Western Bulldogs defender. If you want to talk about toughness and defying the pain barrier, Hargrave is your man.
"I was having a few beers with mates just a couple of weeks after the operation and we were on a boat heading to Rottnest Island," he explains.
"I had staples in my stomach and when I started to get sea-sick the staples were rubbing, so I got some scissors and took them out."
The operation he was talking about was major surgery to remove an abscess the size of an orange from his bowel and have half-a-litre of puss drained from his abdomen.
This all happened in his first year at Whitten Oval in 2000. He knew he was very sick but a string of doctors couldn't find the problem, so he kept battling along until he suffered blood poisoning and was taken to hospital.
Fast-forward to May 2006 and Hargrave's ankle is wrecked. The surgeon says he needs to have an operation but he knows if he does that it could jeopardise his chances of playing finals footy.
So, instead of following medical advice, for the next 20 weeks he has several pain-killing injections into the ankle before each game. He is lucky if he gets to train once during the week as the ankle blows up like a balloon the day after a game.
"I wanted to play finals footy that bad," Hargrave said. "We'd obviously struggled over the last few years, so I didn't want to risk not playing finals."
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade is very much an admirer. "He played the whole season last year with a buggered ankle and it was really severe," Eade said. "The surgeon after the operation said he couldn't believe he even played one game with it, let alone the season.
"I mean, he had to have a complete ankle reconstruction at the end of the season and yet there he was out there playing on bigger blokes and fighting out of his weight division."
The cliche "don't judge a book by its cover" couldn't be more appropriate for Hargrave.
He is stick-thin, not overly tall - 1cm taller than Chris Judd - and looks more like a surfer (a pursuit he also loves) than a key position defender.
His nickname is "Shaggy" because of his similarity to the main character from the kids' cartoon series Scooby-Doo.
"He is a very laid-back individual," Eade said. "He doesn't say a lot and gives the impression he doesn't care sometimes, but he really does."
Hargrave admits there are definitely two sides to his personality with the off-field persona frustrating many, particularly his girlfriend.
"I get told a lot by my girlfriend that I'm really lazy," he said. "I do get really excited when I play football because I love doing it so I get a bit pumped up.
"I've always sort of had a bit of white-line fever and the opposite to that is I've always been told I am sort of lazy and laid-back off the field.
"I suppose it helps you stay a bit calmer under pressure situations and given I play down back it can get a bit stressful at times."
Hargrave came to Whitten Oval as a forward at No. 66 in the 1999 national draft. He was one of seven players drafted out of the Perth colts team.
Eade says the 25-year-old, who played his 100th game last week against the Eagles in Perth, has the respect of everyone at the Bulldogs because of the way he fights against the odds every week.
Hardman Hargrave (http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21714427-21543,00.html)
RYAN Hargrave tells a story about pulling staples out of his stomach using scissors while on a boat.
It is cringeworthy and slightly mad but, in a way, it sums up the under-rated Western Bulldogs defender. If you want to talk about toughness and defying the pain barrier, Hargrave is your man.
"I was having a few beers with mates just a couple of weeks after the operation and we were on a boat heading to Rottnest Island," he explains.
"I had staples in my stomach and when I started to get sea-sick the staples were rubbing, so I got some scissors and took them out."
The operation he was talking about was major surgery to remove an abscess the size of an orange from his bowel and have half-a-litre of puss drained from his abdomen.
This all happened in his first year at Whitten Oval in 2000. He knew he was very sick but a string of doctors couldn't find the problem, so he kept battling along until he suffered blood poisoning and was taken to hospital.
Fast-forward to May 2006 and Hargrave's ankle is wrecked. The surgeon says he needs to have an operation but he knows if he does that it could jeopardise his chances of playing finals footy.
So, instead of following medical advice, for the next 20 weeks he has several pain-killing injections into the ankle before each game. He is lucky if he gets to train once during the week as the ankle blows up like a balloon the day after a game.
"I wanted to play finals footy that bad," Hargrave said. "We'd obviously struggled over the last few years, so I didn't want to risk not playing finals."
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade is very much an admirer. "He played the whole season last year with a buggered ankle and it was really severe," Eade said. "The surgeon after the operation said he couldn't believe he even played one game with it, let alone the season.
"I mean, he had to have a complete ankle reconstruction at the end of the season and yet there he was out there playing on bigger blokes and fighting out of his weight division."
The cliche "don't judge a book by its cover" couldn't be more appropriate for Hargrave.
He is stick-thin, not overly tall - 1cm taller than Chris Judd - and looks more like a surfer (a pursuit he also loves) than a key position defender.
His nickname is "Shaggy" because of his similarity to the main character from the kids' cartoon series Scooby-Doo.
"He is a very laid-back individual," Eade said. "He doesn't say a lot and gives the impression he doesn't care sometimes, but he really does."
Hargrave admits there are definitely two sides to his personality with the off-field persona frustrating many, particularly his girlfriend.
"I get told a lot by my girlfriend that I'm really lazy," he said. "I do get really excited when I play football because I love doing it so I get a bit pumped up.
"I've always sort of had a bit of white-line fever and the opposite to that is I've always been told I am sort of lazy and laid-back off the field.
"I suppose it helps you stay a bit calmer under pressure situations and given I play down back it can get a bit stressful at times."
Hargrave came to Whitten Oval as a forward at No. 66 in the 1999 national draft. He was one of seven players drafted out of the Perth colts team.
Eade says the 25-year-old, who played his 100th game last week against the Eagles in Perth, has the respect of everyone at the Bulldogs because of the way he fights against the odds every week.