Former Hawthorn midfielder Alex Woodward has ruptured his ACL for the fourth time since 2012 and will now put his football career on hold while he begins rehabilitation once again.
The 23-year-old suffered the injury in a VFL clash on the weekend, while playing for Collingwood against Sandringham on Saturday.
Following five seasons on Hawthorn's list that only saw the midfielder play two matches in 2014 (despite dominating in the VFL that same season and winning the JJ Liston Trophy as the league's best player), Woodward was given a lifeline by Collingwood's VFL side.
He started his season in strong form, collecting 29 and 27 disposals over the first two weeks of the campaign before suffering the injury.
โThe news of needing to go through another knee reconstruction all over again is exhausting in so many ways for me and my loved ones,โ Woodward said in a statement posted toย Twitter.
โComing to terms with what has happened will not be easy and quite painful for a while.
โSometimes the only way to start again is to accept defeat no matter how difficult that may be.
โMy priority will not be returning to play football but will be what is best for me and my body in the long run.
โI pride myself on my resilience, and I know I will be OK and overcome this one way or another.
โI appreciate all of the support.โ
— Alex Woodward (@AlexWoodwardd) May 1, 2017
