One knee injury. Two sporting careers left hanging in the balance.
Kim Mickle's debut for Fremantle at the weekend realised a dream to play in the AFLW for the world javelin silver medallist and Olympian. But a knee injury requiring a reconstruction has left her careers in both of her sporting loves in the balance.
Mickle had not intended to try to compete at the world championships in London this year but had planned to make her comeback to athletics on the Gold Coast at the Commonwealth Games next year. That is now in doubt.
Mickle won silver at the worlds in Moscow in 2013, then injured her shoulder at the next worlds in Beijing in 2015 and, after shoulder surgery, raced to be fit for the Rio Olympics last year. She dislocated her shoulder with her third throw in the qualifying rounds in Rio and had to have a reconstruction when she returned home.
She had not thrown competitively since the reconstruction and had put athletics on hold while she pursued a rookie contract to be part of Fremantle's team in the new AFL Women's competition.
She injured her knee in the second quarter of her debut match against Brisbane at the weekend.
"I didn't expect this to be a major injury at all, but you win some and you lose some, and now I just want to look ahead to what my options are and determine a course of action for my recovery," said Mickle.
The 32-year-old must now be in doubt to return from injury for the Commonwealth Games, having not tested her shoulder in competition and now needing to recover from the knee.
Such is her nature she is understood to have been pragmatic about the injury, accepting that it was a reality and risk of sport and she'd now work through each stage of her recovery before forecasting what the injury would mean for her future.
"The results of the scans were quite a shock," Mickle said.
Mickle is keen to remain involved with the Dockers' AFLW side for the remainder of the campaign.
"We'll work out what that looks like with the club over the next week or so."