By Jon Pierik
Copyright theage
“I don’t remember much of that day. I blacked out and had a few green whistles [pain medication] – it was a long recovery.”
Butler had to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, but he said the Hawks’ medical staff had him as comfortable as he could be. The diagnosis soon came – he had broken the tibia and fibula bones, and an arduous rehabilitation period lay ahead.
After surgery and rest, Butler had to regain the confidence required to walk, then jog, then run, let alone play professional sport. There is a clip of his first running session on the Alter antigravity treadmill on Instagram, with teammates cheering him on. As Butler gets moving, it feels as if he does not want to stop, so delighted was he to be back running.
Through the ordeal, he had strong support by his side, including his parents, partner Ava Polkinghorne and brothers Dan – the former Richmond premiership player and now Saint – and Matt, a psychologist. The brothers are close, often having dinner together, and battling each other for supremacy when it comes to Mario Kart on Nintendo 64.
