Brett Emerton has finally returned to the fray seven months after surgery rebuilt his cruciate ligament, and yesterday the Blackburn wideman admitted: “I feared the worst.'’
On the bench for Blackburn for the past three weeks, Emerton made his re-entry to the Premier League as a 73rd-minute substitute, greeted by the Rovers supporters singing his name in Blackburn’s 3-1 over Wolves.
It ended a seven-month purgatory for a key man for club and country, who was forced under the knife when he suffered the injury in a tackle against Middlesbrough in January. In the process he missed both Blackburn’s successful fight against relegation, and also Australia’s qualification for the World Cup - but yesterday Emerton spoke of his relief at simply playing again.
“Sometimes it’s easy to think the worst,'’ he told The Daily Telegraph of hearing the diagnosis. So far I’d been lucky not to have any other serious injuries throughout my career so I think you always doubt exactly how well you’re going to come back. I’ve just worked as hard as I can to get back to the same level - at least. It’s been a long time coming and hopefully now I can start to push for a starting place.'’
Initially thinking it was just a twisted knee, Emerton only discovered the extent of his injury two days after the original tackle, and immediately returned to Australia for surgery and the start of his rehabilitation. Now he says the knee is stronger than ever - and Socceroos staff say Emerton, a physical freak of nature for the intensity of his fitness, is in better condition than ever.
“I’ve been training and playing friendlies for quite some time, so there’s no hesitancy with my knee,'’ Emerton said. “It just feels as it does seven or eight months ago. Physically I feel very good - obviously not playing games gives you a good chance to work on things you might not have time to, whether it be in the gym or on the pitch. You can really condition your body to the extreme. The real test will come when I start to play 90 minutes at the highest level, but certainly so far, I feel really strong.'’
The irony for a player who has racked up 69 caps in a decade - fifth highest on the all-time list - was that it gave Emerton his first clear off- season since 2003.
“The timing was perfect, actually,'’ he said wryly. “It was difficult in the sense that Blackburn were fighting a relegation battle, and I wanted to be involved with Australia’s qualification. But looking back, we survived the drop and Australia have made it to the World Cup - so it couldn’t have turned out better. It means I’ve got a full 12 months ahead of me before South Africa. I’m really looking forward to the World Cup next year.'’
