Connor Rogers learning to walk again after nearly losing leg in 'completely fair tackle' during local footy game

Connor Rogers went to take a shot on goal during a finals game last season when he was tackled from behind.

It was a typical moment in a suburban footy match. Yet few could have predicted what came next.

Warning: This story contains graphic images and descriptions that may be distressing to some.

"It was a completely fair tackle, nothing wrong by the bloke who did that, but my knee sort of buckled from underneath me, and both of our weights sort of cartwheeled over it," Rogers told ABC Sport.

"How we describe it is, if you imagine you're stretching your quad, you bring your heel to your bum, imagine your leg did the opposite. So your top of your toe hits your hip, [it] sort of did that."

The Victorian Amateur Football Association thirds division preliminary final between Rogers's Wattle Park Animals and Melbourne High School Old Boys was halted — and eventually called off — as they waited 40 minutes for an ambulance.

A lifelong Carlton supporter, Rogers had seen plenty of knee injuries over his time watching footy, and assumed he'd done his ACL or similar. Yet after the first 20 minutes, shock started to set in.

"I thought it was just a dislocated knee, but little was I to know that the blood circulation had cut off to my lower leg … My body went into shock [and] I've never experienced anything like that before," he said.

"Then the ambulance came, and I got the green whistle — which was heaven. I put that back faster than I've ever put anything down."

Rogers, 28, woke up about six hours later in a hospital bed, still expecting to hear the news he'd done his ACL.

But instead, he was told "you've severed the artery at the back of your knee" in what's called compartment syndrome. This was along with a torn ACL, PCL and MCL.

Getting blood flow back to his lower right leg was the main and immediate concern, so they transplanted a vein from the back of his left leg.

"They told me that amputation was a big possibility, and that was insane to hear because up until that point, I was trying to stay calm, thinking 'I've done a knee,'" he said.

"To hear that you might lose your leg, that was quite a shock."

Over the next five weeks, Rogers underwent 11 surgeries in total. Each time they cut away the part of his calf that had suffocated due to a lack of blood.

He went back into theatre every two to three days as they kept "chipping away" trying to save as much of his muscle as possible. In the end, he lost his entire right calf, severely impacting his ability to feel or move his right foot.

"Luckily, my mum lived a short walk away, so she was bringing me home-cooked meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which was unbelievable," he said.

At the same time, the Animals played out their remaining finals series with the motto of "do it for Rog".

Wattle Park player and coach Joel "Checkers" Eyles, who is part of popular AFL content creator duo Marmalade, said the team had limited access to Rogers while he was in hospital because of the frequency of surgeries, but there was a flat feeling amongst the boys.

"So we were just worried the message was going to come through that he had lost his leg, or something had gone wrong," Eyles told ABC Sport.

"We had shirts made that we all wore in our warm-ups for the rest of the season, played a grand final and had his guernsey hanging up on the bench, all that cliche stuff."

When the side made the grand final two weeks after Rogers's injury, they FaceTimed him from his hospital bed from the club rooms.

"Football was the most important community aspect of what got me through," Rogers said.

"You don't realise how much support you have behind you until you do encounter proper adversity.

"Of course, I knew that I was loved and I have friends and people that you know want me to do well, but it wasn't until it happened that the full weight of that was unveiled to me.

His previous football club and past coaches all came through the hospital. Even Carlton captain Patrick Cripps sent a video message.

"It's funny, my old lady, she was sitting by my hospital bed bawling her eyes out, and I was still alright," Rogers said.

"I was emotionally intact for weeks, but the moment 'Crippa' sent me a video was when all the emotion came out at once. He's a special bloke."

For Rogers's best mate and fellow teammate, Caden MacDonald, also a popular AFL creator, the first final after Rogers's injury was "one of the most emotional games" he's ever been a part of.

"I just think the power of footy's pretty crazy, especially community footy. It does feel like a family, that community feel," MacDonald said.

"Straight away, when Connor went down, you didn't even have to question whether the club and the Wattle Park community would get around him."

That impact was a two-way street, particularly in Rogers's mental resilience.

"I was trying to do the numbers. Like, it's almost unfathomable that it would happen to anyone, let alone your best mate," MacDonald said.

"So I went into the hospital, and because I was having these thoughts and thought maybe he is too — I sat at his bed at the hospital, and I said, 'Are you starting to think, "Why me?"' And he goes, 'No'. And so I went, 'OK, well, I'd better stop.'"

Rogers now gets around with crutches. He's started the rehabilitation process to put weight back on his right foot and eventually walk again.

However, his mobility and function have been impacted for the rest of his life.

He's also had to stop hosting trivia, a big enjoyment in his life, and has had his factory work modified.

There are moments where he sits with sadness and anger, and the impact of what has been taken away from him physically. He says he takes time to acknowledge and mourn that, but he's not going to let those feelings dictate his day-to-day life.

"If the worst-case scenario is I have a prosthetic but I still have my mind, I still have my mates, I can still listen to The Killers, I can still go to the gym and have a beer with my mates in a beer garden," he said.

"If I just have a fake leg, obviously, it's not ideal, and I'm not saying that it's all sunshine and rainbows. I do take the time to mourn what I've lost and accept what I've lost, and I do take time for that.

"But ultimately, if the worst-case scenario is I'm still surrounded by the people that matter most to me, I can still have a laugh and all the rest of it, that isn't that much of a worst-case scenario."

He will remain around the footy club for the 2026 season as an assistant coach under "the great Will Taylor".

"I'll move the magnets a little bit, and if the boys aren't quite putting their heads over the footy, I'll remind them it wasn't too long ago I nearly lost my leg out there."

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