{"id":302285,"date":"2025-11-22T22:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T22:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/302285\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T22:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T22:14:15","slug":"no-option-but-to-get-back-hampsons-comeback-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/302285\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No option but to get back\u2019: Hampson’s comeback charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

CRAIG Starcevich has described her as Brisbane’s “point of difference”, so when Ellie Hampson<\/a> dislocated her shoulder and broke her collarbone in five places midway through the season, there was only one course of action to take.<\/p>\n

While the surgery, which included inserting nine screws to stabilise the area, usually takes three months to fully recover from, Hampson and the Lions were in more of a hurry.<\/p>\n

They decided to take an “aggressive” approach to rehabilitation, getting the powerful half-forward back on the field within six weeks and having her available prior to finals.<\/p>\n

But to do so would take Hampson to places she hasn’t been before, including training sessions with a mixed martial arts fighter to prove her fitness.<\/p>\n

“The club really put the belief in me,” Hampson told AFL.com.au.<\/p>\n

“Knowing if I could get back, I was straight in, that belief was enough to get me through rehab, as long as I held up my end of the bargain.<\/p>\n

“The surgeon likes to make sure things are more structurally sound, but we’re in a different position to the general public. I’m lucky enough to get treatment every day from the physio and really accelerate the process.”<\/p>\n

Which is exactly what she did.<\/p>\n

Although Hampson was understandably rusty in her return match against Collingwood in the final round of the home and away season, she exploded with a two-goal outing in the qualifying final win over Melbourne a week later.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old said the six-week recovery was like a mini pre-season that she saw as an opportunity more than a hindrance.<\/p>\n

With Brisbane stacking up the wins and surging into the top four, Hampson could concentrate on being in the best shape possible when she returned.<\/p>\n

To get there though, the club’s strength and conditioning team suggested she train with MMA fighter Damien Brown, who specialises in jiu jitsu, at Brisbane’s Base Training Centre.<\/p>\n

“He was a legend,” Hampson said.<\/p>\n

“It was an unreal opportunity and a massive part of my recovery. He was taking me to ground and there were some hits where I thought ‘hoooley’.<\/p>\n

“There was no option. I had to do it. Every part of me needed to get back as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

“We had two really solid sessions and then a game and scrimmage and I was good to go.<\/p>\n

“It always surprises me how many ideas our S&C and physios come up with. They go into any nook and crevice to find any advantage.<\/p>\n

“No way I was passing an opportunity to get back out there and help us. It was scary in a way, but scary with excitement.”<\/p>\n

Following Brisbane’s win over the Demons, Starcevich compared Hampson to a two-time male premiership player with her power and ability to impact games in different ways.<\/p>\n

And it’s a reputation she’s built on the big stage, with her two goals in the 2023 Grand Final against North Melbourne pivotal in the Lions winning that premiership.<\/p>\n

“Her record over the past three years with us in big games has been top of the charts,” Starcevich said.<\/p>\n

“She’s just different. She plays Cam Rayner<\/a> type footy in that part of the ground, which is strength and get-out-of-my-way type of footy.<\/p>\n

“It’s impressive and it’s a point of difference to have a player like that.”<\/p>\n

Hampson said Starcevich and the Lions coaches know what buttons to push to get her going.<\/p>\n

It’s something they’ll need to do again for Saturday night’s preliminary final against Carlton at Brighton Homes Arena.<\/p>\n

“When I’m given an opportunity, given that belief, I’ll do everything I can to live up to it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When finals come around Craig puts an enormous amount of belief in me.<\/p>\n

“I owe it to him, and I owe it to the team. The time and effort they put into me in my rehab, the bare minimum I can do is give every bit of myself to the team.<\/p>\n

“I try and do all the little things \u2026 making my teammates stand taller. If I go into a contest and compete well, that makes the next person stand a bit taller.<\/p>\n

“If my teammates have trust I have their back, I’m doing my job. My job is to be the best teammate I can be.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CRAIG Starcevich has described her as Brisbane’s “point of difference”, so when Ellie Hampson dislocated her shoulder and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-302285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}