Bulldogs star Adam Cooney is back on the track after injury. Picture: Norm Oorloff Source: Herald Sun
THE text message on the way had layers of excitement in it from a Western Bulldogs official watching training.
Running without a limp was the observation. Was it PR spin or were the whispers of an Adam Cooney resurrection actually true?
When Robert Murphy asks about the interview subject as he wanders through the cafe at Whitten Oval, it turns out there is no spin.
"He's flying."
And then adds with a smile: "He's running on top of the ground, as they would say."
Cooney laughs when Murphy's words are relayed to him a few minutes later. "Murph gets a bit excited."
The reason for the excitement is the fact that for the first time in four years Cooney was able to front up to day one of pre-season and, since then, hasn't missed a beat for the past three weeks.
This is all on the back of a ground-breaking procedure he had on his troublesome right knee in Germany just over a month ago.
Cooney is naturally being ultra-cautious, but admits he's feeling the best he has for a long, long, long time.
"Just mentally I am feeling a lot better because this is the first time since the end of 2008 that I haven't had surgery at the end of the season," he said.
"That's helped because the amount of training I have been able to do in the eight weeks off, I've been able to ramp it up and come back with a better base to start pre-season.
"I haven't done day one of pre-season for four years so it just makes you a lot happier to be out there training. At the moment I'm feeling good."
Cooney suffered a heavy knock to his right knee in the 2008 qualifying final which cracked his patella and did significant damage to the cartilage inside.
Multiple operations have failed to find a way of stopping the constant pain which has reduced the Brownlow medallist to a shadow of his former self.
With his career seemingly slipping away - despite only turning 27 in September - Cooney would sit down every night at his computer and surf the web looking for a miracle.
He figured there had to be someone out there who could help.
Adam Cooney gets stuck into pre-season training. Picture: Norm Oorloff Source: Herald Sun
Earlier this year, he struck pay dirt when he stumbled across an article about LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
It turns out the most famous basketballer in the world had been battling constant knee soreness but went to see an orthopaedic surgeon in Dusseldorf named Dr Peter Wehling and came back a new man.
Wehling, who apparently was a former physician to Pope John Paul II, had developed a treatment called Regenokine, which assists aging joints by manipulating the patients' blood.
Cooney's major problem was inflammation in the knee which then caused extreme discomfort when he ran. Wehling's methods attack the inflammation.
"I dug a little bit further and found out that it could relate to what I have been going through," Cooney explains. "I did a bit of work myself to try and find out the best way of going about it and if I could be a candidate.
"I sent them an email with an introduction, saying what I have been going through. I then had to send them copies of scans, X-rays and a medical report for them to have a look at.
"Some people I think are too far gone with their injuries to be able to be helped. Luckily, they came back and said I was a candidate."
Cooney presented his case to the Bulldogs administration who agreed it was worth the punt, and the significant cash outlay, to try to get their star player back to something near his best.
He was booked in for late October - which worked in well given the Dogs were playing an exhibition game in London at the same time - for five days, and received a series of injections.
"I would go in each day and they would take blood from your arm, spin it in a centrifuge, then heat it and inject it into your knee the next day with the aim of reducing the pain and inflammation."
Each session lasted only 20 minutes and after one day of walking around Dusseldorf, he'd pretty much seen all there was to see.
I don't know what is going to happen in six months' time or four or five months' time but I can only go on how I am feeling at the moment.
With jet lag still waking him up at 3am every morning, by the third day Cooney was thinking he may be wasting his time.
"After three treatments I was starting to get a little bit angry," he said. "I was by myself, I was jet lagged and I was still a bit sore walking around.
"But after the fourth injection I started to feel a little bit different and then by the fifth morning when I woke up I was doing squats and jumping around."
While the reaction to the treatment varies from patient to patient, Cooney was buoyed, not only by his own feeling, but what he saw happen to a fellow patient over his brief stay.
"The same people were there at the same time each day for treatment and there was this Brazilian guy who was in his mid-50s.
"He had lower back pain, arthritis in the lower back and it was affecting all through his hips and groins. The first day when he went in there he could hardly talk as he was in so much pain.
"By the fifth day he was moving around and talking away. He said after his first injection he felt better and obviously with some people it has amazing results while some people go there and it doesn't work."
Cooney tried to describe AFL football to Dr Wehling, but quickly gave up.
"He had no idea and I said it's kind of like rugby and kind of like NFL but we got nowhere so I just said, 'Go on to to YouTube an have a look at it'. I'm pretty sure I'm the first AFL player to go over there."
The injections won't fix his knee but there is a growth factor in the magic formula which helps fight the inflammation.
Adam Cooney clears out of the middle. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun
He has been told to take a "common sense" approach to training - basically that means if it starts hurting again, stop - which should result in him being a different player next season.
"It doesn't last for the rest of your life," Cooney explains. "For the general public it lasts two to four years, for athletes most of them go back every 12 months for a top-up."
He emphasises he's not letting himself get carried away - like Murphy and Co - but finally has a smile on his face again in the month of November.
"I don't know what is going to happen in six months' time or four or five months' time but I can only go on how I am feeling at the moment and just being able to train at this time of the year has been good for me.
"I won't be making any bold statements but I will say if I stay, if my body stays the way it is now, I will be able to contribute a lot more than I have in the last couple of years."
No PR spin there. A ressurection? Quite possibly.
REGENOKINE
Developed by Dr Peter Wehling
HOW IT WORKS
A patient's blood is withdrawn, incubated at a slightly higher temperature ( to "give the blood a fever'') and spun in a centrifuge. At that point, the blood cells produce proteins that decrease inflammation and push cellular growth. Sometimes Dr Wehling adds more anti-inflammatory proteins. Then, he injects the final solution back into the aggravated area. Normally it involves five injections over a five-day period.
WHO HAS USED IT?
Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers megastar
Tracy McGrady - 7 x NBA All-star
Alex Rodriguez - New York Yankees baseball superstar
Vijay Singh - Three-time major golf championships winner
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