After tearing his pectoral muscle in prime-time on a Friday night in May against Geelong, the key-defender finally made his return for North Ballarat on Sunday.
In difficult conditions, Tippett marked his resumption as one of the Roosters’ best against the Cats.
The first year Roo ‘comprehensively’ beat Cats key forward Mitch Brown according to North development manager Ben Dyer. For the man himself, it was like the beginning of a new year.
“After 10, 11 weeks on the sidelines, to finally get back out there was a good feeling,” Tippett told NMFC.com.au.
“I was a little bit nervous heading out there, but once I got into things and got into the flow I felt fine. Because I hadn’t played in so long, it almost felt like I was starting my season over again a little bit.”
Considering the nature of Tippett’s injury, his strength when battling against Brown and the Cats’ other key forwards was extremely impressive.
For that, he has the club’s medical staff to thank.
“I actually felt really good in the contest.
“I worked really hard with Dawesy (David Dawes, physiotherapist); he was in charge of my rehab and he had me working a lot in the gym and also a lot of tackling.
“I was fairly confident going into the game that everything would hold up OK and it did.”
Being able to play against a quality opponent like Brown was the perfect re-introduction.
“He’s been in some good form so I enjoyed the challenge of lining up against him,” Tippett added.
“Conditions probably suited me a bit more than the forwards and I suppose I was lucky in that sense. I like to play on the best key forwards so it was good to get him first up.”
Often when players return from a long-term injury they are nursed through their first outing, playing limited game-time simply to get some match fitness into their legs. Tippett on the other hand was straight back into the action.
“I was lucky in a sense that I could still run while I was injured. So yesterday I felt fine out there fitness-wise,” he said.
“You actually have to work twice as hard as you do when you’re actually playing. So there’s a lot of hours at the club and a lot of hours doing all those injury prevention weights and things like that.
“We were aiming for around 10 or 11 weeks so to get that was pretty good in the end.”
Simply grateful to get back on the track after his layoff, Tippett is relishing the chance to play regular football again.
“The boys are always really good and get around you when you’re in rehab, but you do tend to feel a bit out of it.
“Once I started training again it was a great feeling and everything just starts feeling a lot better.”
