Darcy Parish, Essendon’s All-Australian midfield magician, is today at war with that same injury, the back complaint that’s mutated into an unrelenting nightmare. The same club medicos had the poor sod operated on. Unfortunately, complications ensued, leading to weeks of pain and frustration. This predicament has taken a significant toll on Parish’s wellbeing. It has put him at odds with the club since he pursued independent medical opinion.
In December, Darcy Parish started suffering debilitating back pain. He helped guide Essendon’s medical team as they made preparations for surgery to attempt to remedy it. Unfortunately, the procedure failed to achieve its intended purpose, which forced him to be in pain for weeks.
“December, has a back injury, works with the Essendon medicos to go under the knife for a procedure on his back. That doesn’t go well and he’s in pain for several weeks off the back of it,” – Mitch Cleary
When his condition wasn’t improving, Parish took the unusual step of obtaining an independent medical consultation on his pre-season injury. This decision set off alarm bells inside the organization and sparked discord among board members with the club.
“He then seeks independent third-party advice around his back injury, which caused some friction and raised eyebrows internally with the club.” – Mitch Cleary
The effects of these injuries have been massive. Parish sat out the club’s first 11 matches of the season recovering from chronic back and calf issues. He didn’t return to play again until Round 13 against Carlton. Unfortunately, Quincy’s return was brief, as he was only able to play two additional games before injuring his calf again.
The independent medical professional’s constructive and critical comments made it clear that the initial surgery was poorly done. The procedure had obviously not gone as expected. This required Parish to have a secondary procedure on the Gold Coast, Australia that finally repaired the valve.
“On the back of that second opinion, they found the initial procedure didn’t go to plan.” – Mitch Cleary
Former St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt spoke on Parish’s situation, saying that it is rare for players to pursue outside advice.
“That’s not common that a player would do that” – Nick Riewoldt
The injury saga around Darcy Parish has been a huge factor in Essendon’s woes this season. The pressure has compounded with the team still forced to make do with a plethora of first-team regulars, as MK Dons continue to struggle to keep pace competitively.
