LIAM DURKIN
FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
By LIAM DURKIN
WHEN Tajh Eden kicked a goal in the third quarter at Western Park on the weekend, it capped off a remarkable return to the playing field.
The young Moe footballer was playing his first open-age game, and first in almost a year, on the comeback trail since being diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
As the kick sailed through, Eden was duly swamped by teammates, who came from all areas of the ground to welcome him back.
The skilful midfielder showed no signs of rust, and was named in the best as he helped the Lions to a 40-point victory in the reserves.
“It’s been a long wait to come back and play the game so it’s good to get through unscathed,” he said after the match.
“I wasn’t too bad (mentally) heading in, a bit nervous just because I was a little bit underdone but other than that just excited to be back.”
Eden, who played juniors at Moe, had been a key presence among the Lion’s senior playing group this season, taking part in training where he could and assisting on game day in various roles.
Come Round 10 of the Gippsland League season, he felt he was finally ready to pull the jumper back on again.
As Eden explained, it had been a slow and steady road to recovery since he was diagnosed with sarcoma in his arm.
“I got past all that, they replaced the bone that I had the cancer in with the fibula bone in my leg,” he said.
“So I’m running with the one bone in my leg at the moment, a nice rod and a few screws in my arm, just putting a lot of pressure through the one bone in my leg so that is why it’s taken a long time to get back in.
“Rehab has been a lot of strength work, a lot of single leg strength work for it to build the muscle back up, and a bit of running.
“It is heaps different, nowhere near as strong, but just something I am going to have to get used to and play through. I think I’ll be able to manage it enough to get through the year and hopefully get it right and get on top of it in the preseason and go again next year.”
The quietly spoken young man has not been one to think ‘woe is me’, and has got on with life as best he can, currently in the second year of an electrical apprenticeship.
It is football however that has provided one of his biggest motivators, and he was extremely grateful for all the support he had received in making his return possible.
“First thing you think when you get diagnosed with cancer is you just think you are going to die, so that was the first thing, but second thought was just footy, am I going to be able to play again?
“It was a pretty tough time, but the club has been behind me since day one, my family, all my friends, I’ve had unbelievable support all the way through,” he said.
“I always believed deep down that I could get back and play some good footy.”
As Eden has proved, courage in football is not just measured by how many times you put your head over the ball or run back with the flight.
His is courage in the truest sense of the word.
