Farrar: the road to recovery

It’s been a long pre-season for Ben Farrar. Injured before his 2012 season could even begin, it’s been almost a year since his knee kept him from the field. But the versatile back isn’t going to let this injury stop him from turning out for Manly in 2013.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, get my body right, get my knee right more importantly, and mentally get over some demons that I’ve had,” Farrar said. “Hopefully I can get back out on the field and start enjoying my footy again.”

When asked how he has remained motivated throughout his recovery, Farrar revealed two simple reasons that has helped maintain his focus.

“I still really enjoy playing, that’s probably the main thing. If I didn’t enjoy playing footy I probably wouldn’t put myself through it. I miss that rush and excitement of playing football again.

“Secondly, I’m trying to pay back all the people who have helped me along the way. It’s been a long road to recovery, and I’m not there yet.”

As is sometimes the case with serious knee injuries, it remains to be seen whether Farrar will return with the same speed and explosive power. Rest assured, he is putting in the hard yards to give himself the best possible chance. There’s even a school of thought that he could resume his career with even more speed, a theory which Farrar won’t discount at this stage.

“You never know, that’s one thing they say about your knees, sometimes you don’t, but other guys do as well because of the work you have to put into it, sometimes you can come back at a higher level.

“It’s pretty unknown. There are a couple of niggles going on at the moment, you fix your knee and everything else gets thrown out around it, you’ve got to fine tune all that stuff. It’s pretty early to say, but I’ve just got to try and get back to where I was - that’s the main focus - and build from there.”

Check out part two of Farrar's chat here, where he talks about the new faces around the squad, and considers his chances of returning to the first grade side.