Trengove, 18, was touted as a potential top 10 selection ahead of last year’s NAB AFL Draft, but complications from hamstring surgery put his promising AFL career in jeopardy before it even began.
The 197cm athlete tore his hamstring from the bone while training with Vic Metro in June. Trengove was scheduled for surgery but the procedure didn’t go according to plan.
“I ripped my hamstring off the fibula down near my knee and when the surgeons put that back on, they bruised or nicked a nerve,” Trengove said.
“My hamstring was fine, but I couldn’t move my foot. I went and had another operation and the surgeons were worried the nerve was going to be cut and if it had been cut, I was never going to play again.
“Thankfully, it was just bruised.”
The former Calder Cannon spent two weeks laid up in bed before embarking on the early stages of his long rehabilitation.
“I had to wear a leg brace to hold my foot in place for eight weeks and I was still running around with that on,” Trengove said.
“I couldn’t feel my foot, but I was still trying to kick the footy.”
Trengove, who was labelled the ‘steal’ of the draft after slipping through to pick No.22, arrived at Port Adelaide in November and was promptly placed on the long-term injury list.
He spent his first couple of months in Adelaide running laps around Alberton Oval while his new teammates trained.
“It was pretty hard. I sat down with Arnie [club stalwart David Arnfield] during the pre-season and we had a chat about it,” Trengove said.
“He said, ‘You’ve just got to keep going because in the end, you’ll be running out there with the group’.”
Trengove was pushed to his limits during regular bike or ‘sweat’ sessions and also worked closely with weights coach Andrew Lulham to build up the strength in his wasted leg.
“I was doing two 45-minute sweaties a day on top of my normal running program,” Trengove said.
In round six, after 10 months on the sidelines, Trengove made his long-awaited return to football with a half for the Port Adelaide Magpies reserves.
Development officer Stuart Cochrane said he’d been impressed by the wiry defender’s competitive spirit.
“Jackson’s probably just under rucking height but he goes in there and matches it with the bigger players. He likes throwing his body around,” Cochrane said.
“There a bit of a rare breed those guys that come straight into the club as 18-year-olds and like throwing their weight around.
“He’s still got a long way to go, but he’ll keep forcing his way into the development office wondering how he can raise the bar a bit higher.”
Trengove, whose toes only “came good” a couple of months ago, said he was under no pressure to set the AFL or even SANFL alight this season.
“It’s been hard because I like setting my goals pretty high, but at the moment I’m getting back into it,” Trengove said.
“I’ve realised how hard it is to not play for 10 months and I kind of struggled last weekend.
“I laid a few good tackles, but that was about it, so my goal is to get back into in the SANFL and hopefully play ones for the Maggies and move on from there.”
