Essendon’s ACL rehab group has undertaken an educative trip, with Lewis Hayes, Tom Edwards and Nick Bryan recently completing a high-performance rehabilitation block at the world-renowned Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Doha. 

The trio have followed in the footsteps of current teammates, with Nate Caddy, Jordan Ridley, Zach Reid and Kyle Langford, all having visited in previous years for personalised, injury-specific advice and performance enhancement. 

Designed to complement the Club’s existing rehabilitation programs, the trip provided the group with access to world-class expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, and advanced technology to, help each of the players better understand their bodies and refine their return-to-play plans. 

Essendon AFL Senior Physiotherapist Darren Austin, who accompanied the players, said the trip was carefully planned to give the trio access to some of the most advanced biomechanical testing and rehabilitation resources in the world. The trip also presented Darren with a fantastic professional development opportunity, allowing him to bring valuable knowledge back to the club in this space. 

“Aspetar is an amazing sports medicine facility, headed up by Rod Whiteley and Enda King, and they have developed a world-class ACL rehabilitation program,” Austin said. 

“They’ve got a biomechanics lab where they can test all facets of human movement. On the first day, the boys went through a full assessment, including a clinical assessment of knee stability, range of movement, muscle strength and bulk, before moving into a comprehensive 3D motion analysis.” 

Using a Vicon 3D motion capture system, reflective markers were placed on each player to analyse their movement to guide both rehab and performance planning.

“They get you to run, change direction, jump and land, and then analyse your movement patterns to see if there are any inefficiencies or abnormalities. 

“They compare left to right and also compare to their huge dataset of elite athletes, including soccer players and AFL players, which gives us really strong normative values to work from.” 

“The data they collect is extensive. 

“At a university it can take some time to process the testing data, but at Aspetar we received a comprehensive report immediately. You finish the testing, sit down with the physio, go through the results, get feedback and then go straight into one-on-one rehab sessions to address any deficiencies.” 

For Hayes, the experience marked another positive chapter in what he described as a challenging but rewarding rehab journey. 

The key defender sustained an ACL rupture in his AFL debut last year against Sydney in round nine, landing awkwardly in a marking contest. 

“It’s been a rollercoaster. A long stint on the sideline is never going to be smooth sailing but overall, it’s been really positive,” Hayes said. 

“I’ve gotten a lot out of rehab and learned a lot about my body and the way things work. It’s been up and down with some darker moments off the track but we’ve had a really good crew in there and everyone’s gathered around each other.” 

Hayes said the Aspetar experience gave him valuable insight into how targeted strength work can support his knee long-term. 

“The main thing for me is learning specifically how I can target different areas and how much I can get out of just a short block of work.” 

Edwards described the trip as a rare opportunity to work within one of the world’s leading rehabilitation environments. 

“It’s obviously a world-renowned setup. There’s been some big soccer players and basketball players go through there, and the physios are world class,” Edwards said. 

“It was my first time overseas, so that was a bit of an experience. The 14-hour flight hurt a little bit, but once we got there it was great. 

“I learned so much and my knee was feeling really good.” 

Across the week, the trio completed two sessions a day, working closely with allocated physios on motor control, running mechanics and strength development. 

“At the very start we did a biomechanical analysis where they put all these reflective markers on us and analysed the way we move. 

“They generated a report within about 10 minutes, it was unbelievable. To see that data and then correlate it straight into the work we were doing was amazing.” 

Austin said Edwards’ testing highlighted foot and ankle mechanics as a key focus area. 

“Tom has difficulty with ankle stiffness, which is how well you keep stiffness through your foot and ankle when you hit the ground during running,” Austin said. 

“When you lose that stiffness, you lose power and efficiency during running, so his big focus was around his foot and ankle, a little bit around his hip, and cleaning up some of his change-of-direction mechanics. His knee itself is in a really good place.” 

For Bryan, the trip came at an important stage of his recovery, with the ruckman now at the nine-month mark and transitioning back into football-based training. 

“I’m starting to feel very normal and have begun transitioning back into training. I’m feeling optimistic and excited to get back to playing footy,” Bryan said. 

“The testing over there is elite, the facilities are world class, and the physios are as well. I learned a lot about my body and I feel like I’ve got a clear plan now about what I need to work on moving forward.” 

Bryan said the focus has shifted from just his knee to strengthening the areas around it. 

“It really showed where my strengths are, where I’m lacking, and what I need to improve. 

“So it wasn’t directly about my knee, it was about getting stronger in other areas to support it better and reduce the risk of getting injured again.” 

Austin said Bryan’s overall results were very positive. 

“They were really happy with how Nick and Tom performed during their testing,” Austin said. 

“Nick had some minor strength deficiencies at his hip and ankle and some motor control issues around how he moved around his knee with change of direction and landing, but nothing major.” 

All three players have already begun implementing tailored changes into their rehabilitation programs, including individualised warm-up routines and new strength exercises learned during the trip. 

“There are a lot of new exercises we’re doing before and after training now. It’s given me a really clear plan of what I need to work on moving forward to keep my body healthy and give myself the best chance to have a clean run at it,” Bryan said. 

“It’s a really individualised program, which has been great.” 

Austin said the biggest takeaway for him was the attention to detail on movement quality. 

“It’s about looking at the whole leg and the whole body rather than just the knee,” Austin said. 

“They separate motor control from strength work and really double down on correcting movement patterns before loading strength. 

“It also gives us opportunity to explore more with Nic Martin as he continues his rehab journey throughout 2026.” 

With each player now progressing through the final stages of their recoveries, optimism is building across the rehab group as each player hones in on their return to play date. 

Lewis Hayes is targeting a return around the mid-season period, Tom Edwards is pushing towards round six onwards, while Nick Bryan is also in a similar space.