Sport
11 August, 2024
Clode comfortable back out on court for Saints after injury layoff
Horsham Saint Jorja Clode missed five weeks with an ankle injury.
It is not the first time Horsham Saints' shooter Jorja Clode has dealt with injury, but that does not mean she was any less eager to return to play.
The 16-year-old injured her ankle during the round nine WFNL 17 and under match against Nhill and played her first game back in Ararat in round 14.
"The recovery went well; I worked a lot with my teammate Megan [Byrne], who's a physio," Clode said.
"I also went down to Melbourne so I could get more extensive imaging and get more of a timeline base [for recovery], and I was also open with my Bendigo [Strikers] coaches and physio.
"Having a lot of people who know what they're doing obviously helps with that recovery.
Clode admitted she was initially impatient upon returning to play but felt it was more important for her to play the long game.
"My ankle felt fine, and I thought I could come back [pretty quickly], but then I was like, I need to do it [my recovery] properly and do what I'm meant to do," she said.
This meant initially taking it slow at training.
"It's all about pacing yourself and coming back into it. Starting with doing ball work and slowly coming back into that contested work and drills, and then coming back into the game," Clode said.
When she stepped back onto the court in a game situation in round 14, she focused on pacing herself.
"I played one quarter in seventeens to get used to being on the court and used to the court I was playing on," she said.
"My coach Ash [Grace] said hold yourself in front and work yourself back into the game."
For A Grade, it was about getting used to the combinations again.
"Before the start of the game, we said we're going to take our time and work it into the ring and get used to playing with me again," she said.
Saints coach Jess Cannane was thrilled to have Clode back on the court.
"You can just see that confidence that is instilled in our attacking end that you've got Ash and Megan letting the ball fly from the mid-court, and we can score really quickly," Cannane said.
"It just shows that they've [the group] have played three seasons of netball together.
"They know exactly where she's going to lead, where she holds. So it means that the accuracy in our passes goes up."
Cannane believes the conservative approach will only benefit her side in the long run, particularly with where the Saints' bye was.
"It'd been five weeks since she'd played... Jorja had been training really well and doing all the right things; the ankle was doing the right thing and not swelling up. So don't think we've seen any side effects from it," she said.
So that means that we've got a really good, solid run of the next three weeks with a fit and healthy Jorja, which is very nice from a coaching and playing point of view."