No pain, no gain: Cat turns mystery injury into career-best season

Claudia Gunjaca battled a rare stress fracture in her pelvis before delivering her best year in the AFLW

NOW fully fit, Claudia Gunjaca is reaping the rewards of a long injury lay-off at the start of the year, which followed a months-long search for the source of her pain.

The rising Geelong intercept defender has had a career-best year in 2023, with her improvement coming from a combination of hard work, natural development and increased mobility.

Gunjaca battled through soreness in season seven but played all 11 matches for the Cats, with a rare stress fracture in her pelvis detected at the end of the year.

“It wasn’t fun at all, and we didn’t work it out till the end of the season,” Gunjaca told AFL.com.au.

“Me knowing my body quite well [being] a physio as well, it was quite hard to play with, but I just tried to go each week by each week.

“And so that’s why I think this year is a big improvement for me, through just being able to move a bit more freely.

“It was a weird spot, the spot it was in, and I don’t think it had really been seen in that spot. Treatment for me after the season was just 16 weeks with no running, lots of strength and rehab stuff and built my way back up.

“I then had to put in a fairly solid off-season to get my running and fitness back.”

Gunjaca’s average intercepts this year have risen from 4.5 to 7.4, with her disposals jumping from 8.3 to 11.4.

She works closely with skipper and fellow key back Meg McDonald, the pair having both started their careers as key forwards before being swung into defence.

Just in heartbreaking news to geelong cats: cats key suffers a ending-career injury….

No pain, no gain: Cat turns mystery injury into career-best season

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