There usually aren’t many good stories in the period immediately after surgery when you’re sore, immobile and tearing yourself up over all the games you’re missing.

But this is an exception.

I had both my shoulders operated on last year and moved in with my mum and little brother, Wes, at their place on the Central Coast of NSW. It was the first time since I was 15, when my football career started to take off, that I’d spent more than a few days at home.

Recovering from surgery gave me the chance to talk to mum and understand our family story.

I knew bits of it, but I also knew there were parts that had been left unsaid.

Now that I understand exactly what was unsaid – and why – I have a newfound admiration of mum and dad and the hardships they endured for us.

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