1 week Ago By Marc McGowan
No player in this year’s draft class started the season better than Taj Hotton. But his football world came crashing down in an instant on a nondescript night in May. Hotton was playing through plantar fasciitis in his right foot, and excelling but not training.
So with his school side Haileybury College preparing for a bye, he also chose to sit out the Sandringham Dragons’ game that weekend. Taj Hotton in action for the AFL Academy in April this year. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images It was supposed to be a mini-reset after a whirlwind start to the season.
The plan was to put in a week of hardcore training to try to make up for the lost ground on his fitness. But on that night in May, at training for Haileybury and under instruction from coach and ex-AFL legend Matthew Lloyd to take the game on more, Hotton’s right knee and draft year took a wicked turn. Loading “I remember I took the ball [in match simulation] and took three bounces going forward,” Hotton told this masthead.
“As I was about to kick it, someone came at me to smother, and at the last second, I tried to change direction and sell the candy a bit, but as I planted my foot, it slid on the grass, and I just collapsed on my knee. I pretty much knew straight away that it wasn’t very good.” Scans confirmed that Hotton had ruptured the ACL in his right knee, and his season was over.
A month later, after the swelling subsided, the renowned Julian Feller operated on him. “It was a bit of a shock at first. You always hear about these knee injuries, but you never really think it could happen to you,” Hotton said.
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