AFL football is a hard enough game.
The physical and mental tax and rigours it puts players through raise the estimation of an individual's character.
In 2024, we've seen the competition reach extraordinary heights, witnessing the sheer joy of victory and the heartache of defeat.
And with five games remaining in the year, the whips have well and truly begun cracking.
But a sliding doors moment for premiership favourites Sydney has left coach John Longmire scrambling to make a forced change for their upcoming preliminary final against either Port Adelaide or Hawthorn at the SCG.
Captain Callum Mills' seasonย from hell only continued this week.
During a Mad Monday mishap last year, Mills severely injured his left shoulder, which required surgery on his rotator cuff.
The Swans skipper also faced calf setbacks throughout his recovery, which delayed his return even more so, returning in Round 18 against North Melbourne and playing seven games this year.
But as teammate Taylor Adams can vouch for, sometimes the world can be cruel.
Securing a home preliminary final and a much-needed week off, Mills, at training, suffered a minor hamstring strain.
The club was quick to rule out any miracle of him playing in the penultimate week of the season, with an eye on the last Saturday in September, pending Sydney make it.
An estimated recovery time from a hamstring strain is usually 21 days. The grand final falls 19 days from Mills' unfortunate setback.
Longmire made a risky call fior the 2022 decider, opting to select Sam Reid despite his adductor issue. He was subbed out of the game early in the third quarter.
That same game, Chris Scott chose to deliver the heartbreaking news to speedster Max Holmes after he suffered a hamstring injury days earlier and had come close to selection.
And the most recent case of them all is Adams, who missed out on Collingwood's triumph with his own hamstring complications that were sustained during the semi-final week of last year's finals series.
Eerily similar?
Calls have already been made for Sydney to rule out Mills, their captain, of the grand final if they make it, so they can start focussing on the job at hand.
In the short term, Adams and Robbie Fox are the likely replacements for the Swans leader, with a flip of a coin as to which way Longmire and his coaching group will go.
Would it be vindication for the former Pie?
No one wants to see anyone go down with injury, let alone your captain.
But, after the heartbreak of the 2018 grand final loss to West Coast and missing the 2023 victory, it would be understandable for Adams to think that THIS is his moment.
Admittedly, it is bittersweet, but in the cut-throat environment of the AFL, a job still needs to be done.
Adams is a proven warrior and rises to the occasion on the big stages.
In 2018, the 30-year-old came second to teammate Steele Sidebottom in the Gary Ayres Award (best finals player), as well as falling just short of Luke Shuey's grand final performance in the Norm Smith Medal count.
Adams was instrumental in the 2019 qualifying final (26 touches, two goals, nine tackles and nine clearances) and the 2020 elimination final (25 disposals, one goal and eight tackles).
And although it will be for different colours, he should get the chance to do the same for Sydney.
Adams is the ultimate professional and teammate.
He will do everything to support and coach Mills through this difficult time, even if that means he will be sidelined for the decider.
After all, he lived the same fate 12 months earlier.
