A decision to have surgery is paying off for Koroit footballer Tom Mugavin.
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The two-time Saints premiership player will return to the Chris McLaren-coached team on Saturday for the first time in 10 months.
Mugavin, 23, said he was “absolutely rapt” to earn up call up.
“I had an injury in the under 18s where I fractured my knee cap and over the years the cartilage has slowly deteriorated,” he said.
“Last year I couldn’t push through and was getting cortisone injections. I had surgery in October last year and have had no complaints so far.”
The Killarney-based Powercor linesman said surgery was the right call.
“The surgeon made it pretty clear it wasn’t guaranteed to work,” Mugavin said.
“It was a 75 to 80 per cent chance of working. I had nothing to lose; I was in pain when I was trying to run.”
Mugavin will replace the injured Todd McLean, who is managing a rolled ankle, in the top-placed Saints’ back line against bottom-placed North Warrnambool Eagles.
“I wasn’t expecting to play. I had an appointment last night and text Chris to say I’d be 10 to 15 minutes late to training,” he said.
“He said ‘make sure you’re here because you’re in the mix’.”
Meanwhile, Sunday’s junior clashes between Koroit and North Warrnambool Eagles have been moved from Victoria Park to Mack Oval after last weekend’s extreme wet weather took its toll on the Koroit ground. A week off was considered an appropriate action.