by Nicholas Duck
A reserves football pre-season match in March probably doesn't mean much to most people. To Brad Martin, it meant everything.
Taking the field for Longwarry's warm-up against Tarwin on March 15, the game marked exactly one year since Brad was moments away from never seeing his partner and son again.
A workplace accident left him bleeding out on the ground, fading fast and seemingly with little chance of survival.
Now one year removed from that fateful day, Brad sits on the bench at Longwarry Recreation Reserve, looking out at the oval that has been his sanctuary for the past 12 months.
A fairly typical Aussie bloke and tradie, he is by his own admission an outdoors type who loves the bush and fishing.
Brad's not afraid to open up about his near-death experience, showing plenty of mental toughness as he does, though as he tells his story it is apparent there's still some lingering pain under the surface.
While the accident was extremely - and understandably - traumatic, Brad's road to recovery also presented plenty of challenges.
One thing that remained a constant motivation for him was footy. Getting back to playing the sport he loves and doing it with mates was something at the forefront of his mind during his time out of the game. And now with round one this Saturday, Brad's as keen as ever to be there come opening bounce.
The day of Brad's accident began like any other. Heading to his job as a roof tiler - something he had done for more than a decade - he said goodbye to his partner Mikaela and their infant son John Boy (JB) for what seemed like just another day at work.
Brad, 27 at the time, was in charge of a young crew that day, including a 17-year-old apprentice.
Still, nothing was unusual or strange. That was until during his work on the tin roof, when the battens below him gave way and sent him tumbling down.
While most of Brad's body landed fairly safely, the same couldn't be said for his left forearm. His arm struck a supply of roof flashing - a thin, tough material used in the roofing process - which immediately cut through Brad's arm to the bone, slicing through veins and arteries.
"At the time I didn't really feel it I guess, it went through everything," Brad says.
"It just about cut my arm off, it was just hanging on by the back muscle and the bone. I jumped up, knew I'd obviously cut myself. I jumped up and had a look at it and yeah, she was pretty bad."
Now bleeding profusely and still stuck on the second floor of the house, he quickly took off his singlet, wrapping it around his wound before climbing down a ladder - a feat that is as crazy as it is impressive given the circumstances.
All the while he began yelling for someone to call an ambulance, realising the danger he was in.
He says the first person he came across was clearly unprepared for the sight of a blood-drenched Brad begging for help.
"I said 'can you help me mate? I think I'm dying' and he just looked at me and turned away."
With desperation rising as his circumstances become all the more dire, Brad managed to get to the front of the house and to his crew before collapsing, too weak to stand.
By this point they had called 000, trying to navigate their way through a situation nobody could possibly have prepared them for.
Brad gives plenty of credit to his workers, saying without them things could have turned out much differently.
In particular Julian Rovetto, who leapt into action to create a makeshift tourniquet for Brad's arm, cutting off circulation in an effort to stem the bleeding; and Jordyn Stephenson, a 17-year-old at the time, who put pressure on the wound.
"I'm very thankful for them as well. I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them," he says. "I remember I called my boss. My crew asked 'do you want to call your girlfriend?' I said nah, I can't put this on her," he says.
It's at this stage during his retelling that Brad takes a few moments to compose himself. He doesn't outwardly show much distress, but it's clear he's affected as the words he wants to say don't quite come out.
"I just told him I think I'm dying. I remember I said I was sorry...not sure why."
It's not a stretch to say Brad was in the process of accepting that this might be it for him. He's frank about it too.
"I didn't want to call my missus and tell her I think I'm dying on the ground but I remember telling my crew to tell my partner that I love her. I had a young son, I said to tell him that I love him and it's going to be alright. It's pretty hard having to say that. I just about watched my life flash before my eyes."
By the time the ambulance arrived - close to half an hour after the fall - Brad was struggling to stay awake, even as the people around him tried to keep him conscious.
After being loaded up by paramedics and given some ketamine for the pain, Brad was taken to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
While priority one for the doctors was making sure Brad survived, there was another issue to think about. Brad's arm had been without circulation for some time, and even if he lived to tell the tale, there was no guarantee for the limb.
In a rather morbid turn of events, Brad's mother Kerry McIntyre had to be asked whether they had permission to remove the arm if needed. At great pain, she agreed.
Waking up after surgery Brad rolled over to inspect the damage. To his relief, he still had his full arm attached, albeit in a cast. "That was a start, I guess."
Seeing Mikaela and JB for the first time was a "very emotional" moment for everyone involved.
"If I knew I was going to be alright I probably would have made the phone call and just let her know I'll see her in hospital. I didn't know I was going to make it."
Immediately following his surgery, Brad thought his football career was over. A Longwarry man since the start of 2022, it didn't take long for him to message his team's group chat to let them know he was likely going to hang up the boots.
It wasn't until after a second surgery that he thought maybe he could make it work. His doctors were a little surprised, but generally supportive of his goal - as long as he stuck to the recovery plan they had set out for him.
"When I told my therapist and my doctors and that they were pretty shocked I suppose but they were happy for me, (they said) if I can do it I can do it," he says.
The first few months after the accident were hardest for Brad. Cooped up inside, he was unable to move his arm, meaning he couldn't do simple things like cut his food or at times hold his son.
His life was ruled by the constant pain he felt, something that still affects him now, though to a much lesser degree.
It's clear speaking to Brad how grateful he is for the people around him for all their help, especially Mikaela. She essentially had to pick up the slack and, according to him, did it fantastically well.
While he mostly stuck to what the doctors told him, he did break their rules. One of them was getting out of the house to support the Longwarry boys.
Watching them make a stunning run to a preliminary final only firmed in his mind what he wanted to do. "I knew I just wanted to be back out there playing with them. That was motivation."
The Crows, for their part, reciprocated the feeling. The club filmed a video of their players offering their support immediately after the accident, and were always keen to keep Brad in the fold when he was at their games watching with his cast.
Once said cast was off, however, Brad was keen to hit the ground running, joining in Longwarry's pre-season training and putting his arm through its paces. More than being out on the field again he was thankful for the social outlet.
His return to the field earlier this month against Tarwin had the emotions welling up, especially after Brad kicked a goal. He got to feel the embrace that local sport can provide, both literally and figuratively.
"It was great. I can't really explain how it felt to be honest. Definitely more emotion than concentration on the day."
Now with the Crows set to officially kick off their season against Lang Lang in just a few days, he's focused on one thing.
"I want to play round one. I'm ready to go, bloody oath I'm keen as mustard. Ready to put a good year in and hoping to go all the way in the ones and the twos."
These days, Brad has moved on from roof tiling to forklift driving. He gave tiling another crack but, found he couldn't face it. Instead, he's much happier to stay at ground level.
Managing his pain is a daily challenge, and he still can't quite feel things with three of his fingers. It makes picking things out of his pocket a bit more of a mental task than it used to.
But looking back on what could have been, he's happy to be here. He's happy to still see Mikaela and his mother every day. And he's happy that he gets to see his son grow up.
When told he should be proud of how far he's come, he pauses to think.
"Everyone says that. I've got to accept it, I do accept it. Just trying to be better than the day before, that's all I try to do," he eventually says.
"They said I'm very lucky to be alive. And I know that, I definitely know that. I don't think back to it much to be honest, I don't really like to. I definitely thought I was going to die. And that's why I'm so thankful just to the people I had around me,
"I'm still in pain most of the time. It's affected my back and my chest. But I still wake up with a smile on my face, thank god I'm here. Positive attitude is probably why I've gotten so far,
"Not every day is easy, it is what it is. Hopefully the next day is always better than the last."