Spookily, two days before Nathan Vardy ruptured his knee during training he spoke to Cats TV about his long haul recovery from hip surgery.

The tall forward/ruckman, who spent over two years in the injury room until round 10 in 2013, openly explained how his physio became his coach, personal trainer as well as his friend.  

“You spend a lot of time with the physios and you report to them every morning to find out what your day is going to look like - and obviously they do the hands on stuff with massaging and looking after your injury,” Vardy told Cats TV.

“They’re out in the gym, on the track telling you how to run and what sort of drills to do to make the injury get better.

“That’s the biggest thing that the physios do - they take over your football life until you’re ready.”

Tune into Cats TV to hear more from our brave Cat by clicking on the video above.