KOROIT footballer Blair McCutcheon was broken but not beaten.
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The Saints wingman played four matches with a fractured wrist before realising the extent of his injury.
A knock at Hampden interleague training last week encouraged the 2014 premiership player to visit the hospital where an x-ray identified a broken scaphoid bone in his left arm.
McCutcheon, 19, will now spend six to eight weeks in a plaster cast.
Saints coach Adam Dowie said he was in awe of his nephew’s perseverance.
“Blair is pretty tough and resilient, so I am not super surprised,” he said.
“He’s got a fair degree of pain tolerance.”
McCutcheon was named in the Saints’ best in his past two matches despite carrying the injury and was enjoying a career-best season.
“I’ve been telling everyone I must be really tough,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
“It happened in round three against Cobden. It was the first play of the game – I went down and braced myself on my hand and then played the game out.
“I thought I’d sprained it and it would come good.
“When I got the x-ray they said it was pretty serious.
“Because I played for a month they thought it could stop the blood supply and the bone could have died. I could have ended up with arthritis and I didn’t want that at my age.”
McCutcheon missed out on a berth in Koroit’s 2015 grand final side. He credited a strong pre-season and the influence of the Saints’ leaders for his purple patch.
“A lot of players told me to back myself,” he said.
“Tim (McIntyre) coming to the club has had a big impact on me; he says I have a lot of similarities to him as a young fella.”
McCutcheon said it was imperative he maintained his fitness during his rehabilitation as pressure for spots at the reigning premier was “cut-throat”. But Dowie said he had established his place in the Saints’ best 21.
“With Blair, it’s as much about belief in himself than anything else,” he said.
“He’s not playing for his spot every week.”