{"id":497903,"date":"2026-02-23T01:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T01:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497903\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T01:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T01:59:13","slug":"lucky-to-stick-around-fantasia-opens-up-on-repeated-injury-heartbreak-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497903\/","title":{"rendered":"“Lucky to stick around”: Fantasia opens up on repeated injury heartbreak – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Orazio Fantasia<\/a> has opened up on the consistent injury battles he faced during his decade-long AFL<\/a> career, revealing he struggled to deal with the mental toll that his poor physical health took on him.<\/p>\n

Fantasia was confident he provided value during his tenures at three different AFL<\/a> clubs over 12 seasons, but stated he would avoid conversations with family and friends when his on-field play wavered, largely due to injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout sounding like an arrogant w****r, I don’t think I would have lasted as long playing so little if I didn’t have something else adding value to the team,\u201d Fantasia said on The Soda\u00a0Room\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just wouldn’t have someone around if they were averaging 10 games for 12 seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a lot of footy, but clearly I was adding value somewhere else, so that’s why I was probably lucky to stick around.<\/p>\n

“But [I was] probably a s**t boyfriend, a s**t mate, a s**t son.<\/p>\n

“I think my way of dealing with [injuries], and it definitely is the wrong way, but looking back on it, I went very insular.<\/p>\n

“Mates would be calling, and I wouldn’t just respond; parents would be calling, and I wouldn’t respond.<\/p>\n

“And it’s not because I didn’t care or love those people, it was because I just knew it would be the same conversation… and I couldn’t just muster up the courage to deal with those conversations over and over again.<\/p>\n

\"PortADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 08: Orazio Fantasia of the Power in action during the 2021 AFL Round 08 match between the Port Adelaide Power and the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval on May 08, 2021, in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by James Elsby\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“Because I would be going to the club and the physios would be like \u2018how are you feeling today? What are we doing?”<\/p>\n

Debuting in 2014 for the Essendon Bombers<\/a>, Fantasia would go on to play 120 games for three clubs across his AFL<\/a> career, with short stints at Port Adelaide and Carlton after departing the Hanger in 2020 with 80 games under his belt.<\/p>\n

He only managed to tally at least 20 senior appearances in a single season once, which happened to be his career-best, 39-goal campaign for the Dons in 2017.<\/p>\n

Fantasia revealed the toughest part of the realisation that his AFL<\/a> playing days were over was seeing mates he was drafted alongside boast glamorous AFL<\/a> careers, while he struggled to stay healthy week-to-week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I am going through this cycle where it is the same thing, and I am doing everything possible to get back,\u201d Fantasia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am tracking sleep, and just nothing is working, like am I broken?<\/p>\n

\"CarltonMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 14: Michael Voss, Senior Coach of the Blues, speaks to Orazio Fantasia of the Blues during the 2024 AFL Round 01 match between the Carlton Blues and the Richmond Tigers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 14, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you question yourself like, why can’t I do this, everyone else seems to be able to knock game after game.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys I got drafted with, when I was at Carlton \u2018Crippa’ [Patrick Cripps<\/a>] is playing his 200th, 230th, 240th, Zach Merrett<\/a> 250, like these guys I got drafted with, and I am just ticking over a hundred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy couldn’t I play that many? I wish I could have, but it’s my journey at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fantasia also provided insight into the Bombers’ struggles to emerge from a rebuild, highlighting the club’s instability in his days donning the sash as a key component of their ultimate shortcomings.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old played in two losing finals for the Bombers, notably leading his team in score involvements in their 2019 elimination final against West Coast.<\/p>\n

\"RoundMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 25: Orazio Fantasia of the Bombers grabs his jumper as he celebrates a goal during the 2017 AFL round 01 match between the Essendon Bombers and the Hawthorn Hawks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 25, 2017, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Adam Trafford\/AFL Media\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“The instability of the club was probably the one thing that hurt us the most,” Fantasia said.<\/p>\n

“We had five senior coaches in the seven years I was there. That instability was probably the one thing that let us down.<\/p>\n

“It has still taken a while, that stuff takes time… There’s so many good people who have left the club, and that’s probably the hardest part, I think, because we were building something special.”<\/p>\n

Get set for the footy with the FREE Zero Hanger 2026 AFL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 150+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the 2026 AFL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orazio Fantasia has opened up on the consistent injury battles he faced during his decade-long AFL career, revealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-497903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497903","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=497903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}