IT'S FAIR to say that knees have lagged a little in the evolutionary cycle, with ACLs in particular giving up the ghost precisely when we most need them.
Especially if you're female, with women reportedly eight times more likely to tear their ACLs than men, and 25 per cent more likely to re-tear an ACL after surgery.
It's something that Roar Women player Jenna Tristram knows well, having torn her right ACL the day after debuting for the Matildas in 2007 and then tearing her left ACL in 2008 in the second round of the inaugural W-League, just six months after returning from her first knee reconstruction.
In fact, it's something that most of the Matildas and W-League players know well, with Tristram noting that three players from Roar Women (including herself) suffered season-ending ACL injuries.
She estimates that about 10 of the Matildas squad have had knee reconstructions, with Sarah Walsh and Caitlin Munoz enduring three wince-worthy reconstructions each (Walsh agrees with that figure, joking that 'If you haven't had one, you're not playing hard enough.')
'Unfortunately,' Tristram says, 'the trend seems to be that once you tear your ACL on one knee, you tend to rupture it on the other knee.'
She also notes that other knee injuries, such as meniscus tears, are equally common. 'If you were to count how many Matildas there are that have had knee injuries I think you could almost count half the squad!'
So what went through her mind when she tore her ACLs?
'When I tore my right ACL, I was extremely devastated, having just the day before debuted for the Matildas,' she says. 'Growing up and seeing some of my team mates in the institutes suffering ACL reconstructions, I thought I would not continue to play football if I were to ever endure such an injury.'
But things were a little different once she experienced it first hand and she never once considered giving up football.
'For my second and left ACL, at the exact moment when I went down and our physio attended to me, I was only saying one thing: "Please don't say it's my ACL!" I was probably even more devastated when I did my left than my right as I knew exactly how very draining the injury is physically and mentally,' she says.
'I would have to say that [second] time was both better and worse. It was better in that once rehab had begun, I knew what to expect and what realistic goals I could set for myself in terms of improvement; however, it was worse because I just could not believe I had torn both my ACLs for one thing, and that it happened so quickly after returning to play from my first reconstruction-six months!'
And that's perhaps the cruellest part.
Tristram was the face of Roar Women W-League team, was part of the starting XI as Roar's striker, and looked dangerous in the one-and-a-bit games she played before landing awkwardly during a tackle on the hard Perry Park surface. Her knee crumpled, but she rallied and kept playing, only to go down again a few minutes later, this time not returning to the pitch.
Roar Women went on to win the Premiership, the W-League broadcasts out-rated the A-League ones, and the inaugural season was deemed a great success. Meanwhile Tristram was forced to watch it from the sidelines. It wasn't the W-League experience she'd hoped for.
'Personally, I hoped to ensure I had a regular set starting spot with Roar,' she says. 'Naturally as a striker, my ultimate aim individually would have been to be top goal scorer of the competition. But as striker and being part of a team, I just endeavoured to be agile and unpredictable upfront and utilise opportunities set up by my team mates to ultimately assist or score the goals.'
Although she didn't get to play the whole season, she is pleased that the W-League is up and running.
'I guess I wasn't particularly focussing on how many spectators filled the seats or how much money we were getting paid...just having a league finally in itself was a huge success,' she says.
'For years now, we have not had a national league in Australia. I think you can credit the Matildas' great success at the 2007 World Cup for highlighting the fact that this country does have a lot of talent on offer and that to ensure our competitiveness on the world stage, we need a national competition.'
And she was, of course, pleased that Roar Women won. 'It was extremely difficult and frustrating to watch the games from the sidelines. Naturally, I was busting to get out there and be involved,' she says. 'However, it was great to see my team win the Premiership...all the hard work they had put in months before the season had started and during had all paid off!'
All going well, and if she gets the call up, Tristram hopes to return to the W-League in late October this year. After that, she has her sights set on being selected to play at both 2011 World Cup in Germany and the 2012 Olympics in London (the Matildas will be playing qualifiers next year), as well as perhaps the American version of the W-League, the WPS.
For the moment, though, she's focusing on keeping her knees fit and healthy.
So does she worry about re-injuring her knees or is it more a case of, well I've only got two ACLs and the worst has already happened to them so things are on the up?
'No, I can't think that now I've torn both my ACLs, it won't happen again,' she says. 'I can easily tear my ACL again. For example, Caitlin Munoz has torn her ACL on her same knee three times. I also can't worry about injuring myself again as often injuries occur when confidence levels are down-for instance going into a tackle half-hearted.'
She does, however, have some advice for others who suffer knee injuries (including this writer, who is avoiding seeing the specialist as she knows there's not going to be a happy ending to her netballing and footballing story), which is, coincidentally, the same advice she was given when she injured hers: 'Listen to your physio and make sure you do every exercise that is set for you.'
Here's hoping Tristram makes a bigger, stronger, better comeback in season two.
