McNamara finds her happy place in return to the field

392 days after rupturing her ACL, Holly McNamara made her much anticipated return to the field in Melbourne City's win over Canberra. But after getting on the park, the attacker didn't feel like that.

Since rupturing the ACL in her right leg 392 days ago, Holly McNamara missed out on a lot. She’s missed out on a year of what is still one of the most promising careers in Australian football, that’s an obvious one, but as she recounted in the aftermath of her return to the field on Sunday, there’s also been the little things. There’s been no contact that comes with jostling for the ball, or yelling at teammates and then laughing with them at training, or even just the touch of the ball at her feet. For someone who lives and breathes the game like the 21-year-old does, they’re the seemingly minor things that can mean so much.

After 13 months spent on the sidelines with the third ACL injury of her young career, McNamara made her return to competitive football on Sunday in City’s 4-2 win over Canberra, entering the fray as a substitute with her side up 2-1 and helping them secure a win that kept them atop the A-League Women table. While knowing the plan was for her to get on at some stage, coach Michael Matricciani hadn’t earmarked a particular minute or moment for her arrival, leaving her, and most of the observers watching on, waiting in suspense for the moment she would get on.

71 minutes in, that moment finally arrived, brought on in place of goalscorer Kathryn Harvey and, very quickly, almost making it look like she’d never left. Sure, some heavy breathing towards the end of the game suggested that match fitness would likely take a few months to return to capacity but as she hurled herself into challenge (initiating, rather than absorbing contact has been one of her key lessons during her rehab), remonstrated with opponents and officials alike, and sought to impose herself on the game the fiercely competitive edge that has defined her rise showed little signs that it had been blunted.

Promisingly, there were flashes that the game-breaking force that McNamara can be was already being built towards. Getting behind Canberra’s defence in the 93rd minute, she sent in a shot that bounced off the post and straight into the path of Leticia McKenna, who buried a (deserved) goal to make it 4-2 and put the game to bed. She’d remark that she probably should have squared it. Debatable and, regardless, there wouldn’t have been many that would have begrudged her going for it herself.

“I'm just so happy,” she said of her return. “That was so much fun to be back out there. So I'm just kind of glad that I got those first minutes and then can build from here.

“I was just so excited [to come on], you couldn't wipe a smile off my face. I can't even really remember what the score was at that point. I was just kind of glad to get on but I did want to help the team and get that win over the line.

“Once I got onto the pitch, it was like, not that I've never left, but it was like, it was a really quick year for me, even though it wasn't really. It felt like I only played a few weeks ago whereas it was like a year ago. It was nice to get back out there.”

Almost just as notable as McNamara's joy on being back on the pitch was that of her teammates when she joined them on the AAMI Park surface; Bryleeh Henry running over for a hug before she could even get on and the coming from all angles to join her in celebration after McKenna’s strike in added time.

And having moving down to Melbourne from Sydney to commence her professional career with the club – McNamara had family that flew down to watch her return from the stands on Sunday – there was distinct emotion in the younger’s voice when she recounted how the City playing group and staff past and present have played an irreplaceable role in her recovery.

“[They're] the best,” said McNamara. “I could not ask for better people around me. My teammates, the staff; I wouldn't. I wouldn't be playing if it wasn't for them.

“Even those first few weeks of being injured they were in my ear: 'You can do it. You can come back stronger whereas you think the whole world is ending. And even through the middle stage of my rehab in the off-season, having people to talk to, teammates in the gym, it's been unreal. So I can't thank everybody enough. This is down to them.”

Set to travel to face Adelaide United next Friday, the plan for City will be to slowly build McNamara up and gradually increase her workload in the weeks ahead. Bringing a player back from an ACL injury is a fraught exercise at the best of times but given that this is the third time that McNamara has done so – twice in her right leg and once in her left – there’s an added level of care involved.

The attacker knows this, too, gaining a greater understanding of not only how to look after her whole body and not just the parts in immediate discomfort across her last two stints on the sideline, as well as just why it’s so important to do so. And while she hopes that Matricciani won’t hold her back, she’s also not going to try and force him into playing her for a full 90, in what looks like it will be more of a central striking role, before the time is right.

“It's been an absolute joy coaching her and working with her,” said the City coach. “She does the same thing in training. She's slide-tackling players, bumping players, and giving them elbows. If they're not doing the right thing, she's telling them. She's a winner. Like most of our team, we have that meeting mentality and that's what's important.

“Especially over these next couple of weeks as we're building her fitness, she’s going to be a real weapon for us off the bench.

“Massive credit to her. To be able to come back from one ACL is always a big challenge. To come back from three at such a young age, whatever she does from now on, she's already a winner.”