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REVEALED: What happens at Aspetar that had Sean Darcy, Jeremy McGovern, Heath Chapman and more flying to Doha

Many people think flying to Qatar is a radical move for injured AFL players, but having the chance to spend a week at Aspetar is like going to Disneyland for professional athletes. While families soak up the rides and fun Disney offers, athletes who attend Aspetar get to experience a sporting clinic with technology and expertise they can’t find anywhere else. Five days in Doha provides them with a level of detail about their body that can change their career. Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy became the latest AFL player to fly to Qatar to work with Aspetar’s medical team. Darcy has experienced multiple knee injuries, had surgery in September and was looking for detailed information about his body now that he’s getting closer to playing. Aspetar’s Head of Elite Performance and Development, Dr Enda King wasn’t allowed to discuss Darcy’s health but said flying to Qatar at this point of recovery allowed AFL players to be significantly better prepared. “Most injuries heal and the pain goes away. So they’re asking themselves how they can be sure when going through the latter stages of returning to training, that they identify all of the various contributors and the outcomes they set out. We have a battery of tests done at a level of detail that is impractical to do in a club environment,” Dr King told The West Australian. “There’s a number of factors that make Aspetar a destination for international athletes from Australia, across Europe or America. You have orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine doctors, radiology, biomechanists, physiotherapists and strength and conditioning coaches. “When you have a player with a complex problem or even a healthy player who is looking to optimise their performance, the expertise within the facility allows us to address all of the relevant components. Clubs value that fresh approach and disciplinary approach to what they’re doing. “We are quite fortunate to have a very advanced 3D biomechanics laboratory that we are currently in the process of extending. You can do a level of analysis and detail on injuries and rehabilitation that can’t be done in a club environment. “Many of those athletes need different things other than saying ‘here is my back problem’ or ‘here is my hamstring problem.’ The ability to be detailed in analysis is key. “In the bio-mechanics lab, we’re looking at how they are executing sport-specific manoeuvres like running, jumping, sprinting, change of direction and acceleration. We’re looking at the individual forces through each joint of the body and where they are using loads compared to our normal data. “We’re also using EMG (Electromyography) to look at activity levels in muscle groups that are under-active or over-active because of the injury or the legacy that has developed there. We couple that with specific strength testing for individual muscle groups and look at fine motor control around the foot or hip. “Then there’s the volume of the type of injuries that we see. On any given week we would be rehabilitating about 200 ACLs. When you have that volume of a specific type of injury, you develop really robust systems and experience and pathways to assist. “Clubs won’t have that volume of injuries in one season or even across a career. We have exposure to a volume, have done research in the area and done enhanced practice.” Nearly half of the AFL’s clubs have disclosed their trips to Aspetar in recent years. Fremantle’s Heath Chapman overhauled his running technique after a visit to Aspetar last season uncovered the key to repeated hamstring problems. He went from three games in 2023 to 16 last year. West Coast pair Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo also spent one week at Aspetar last summer after being restricted to just nine and 10 games respectively during 2023. McGovern won the Eagles’ best-and-fairest last season and Yeo finished runner-up. Jordan De Goey, Callum Mills, Adam Cerra and Jordan Ridley have also flown to Aspetar, while players from the English Premier League, NBA, NFL, NHL and UFC all utilise the clinic’s expertise. Aspetar is part of the Aspire Zone Campus which takes up 2.5 square kilometres and includes hotels, a hospital, athletics field, an aquatics centre, football field, sporting academy and shopping mall. Aspetar offers physiotherapy, podiatry, nutritionists, physiology, medical imaging, movement analysis, sports cardiology, orthopaedic surgery and altitude rooms. Experts from 50 countries work at Aspetar including Australian Rod Whiteley as the Assistant Director of Clinical Projects and Quality. Then there are Australian physios Luke Heath, Evan Jeanguyot and Ben Salcinovic. Dr King is from Ireland but studied in Perth at Curtin University before moving to Qatar. He has a deep understanding of AFL’s athletic challenges. “Part of the reason AFL physios are so good is because they get to see everything,” he said. “It’s demanding on the shoulders, it’s demanding on the trunk and it’s particularly demanding on the lower body, whether that is the groin, the knee or the ankle. Whether it’s the physical contact or the running demands, they are often in excess of what you’d see in rugby union, elite soccer or other field sports. “The combination of high volume demands of running loads coupled with pivoting and lots of contact means every body part is at risk of suffering some sort of injury. That’s why the demands of the game are so high. “You can have very efficient movement but if you are not conditioned to the demands of the game, that is going to be a challenge. “You have seen time and again that those athletes that get a good pre-season, often go on to have very robust years. “When I travel to visit clubs across the world, the standard of physiotherapy and sports science in Australia and particularly in AFL is among the highest in the world. “They offer fantastic detail in what they’re doing. Very often they’re coming looking for fresh eyes. “They’re looking for detailed analysis. That takes a day or two to go through all of the tests and get opinions across all of the various professions. Then you’re looking for the ability to identify what’s the most relevant. “It takes a number of days to work with the players and clubs to identify the remaining areas. For travel reasons and to optimise the information gained, nearly everyone will be a minimum of a five-day stay. Some with bigger injuries will stay for a month or even up to six weeks.” Doha is five hours behind Perth and it takes more than 11 hours on an overnight flight to get there. It’s even longer from Melbourne. That’s a 14-hour trip. But with more AFL players making the effort and seeing the results, expect a trip to Aspetar to be high on the agenda for the game’s biggest names. Dr King said the Aspetar can help athletes from any sport and any country. “To have diversity of experience in expertise and culture ensures we can cater for every athlete regardless of where they are coming from,” Dr King said. “We can lean off each other. The facilities are spectacular in the hospital and the wider Aspire campus. A direct flight makes Doha very accessible and that’s fed into more players coming.”

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REVEALED: What happens at Aspetar that had Sean Darcy, Jeremy McGovern, Heath Chapman and more flying to Doha

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REVEALED: What happens at Aspetar that had Sean Darcy, Jeremy McGovern, Heath Chapman and more flying to Doha