CHARLIE Spargo's journey back from injury has been anything but straightforward.

An Achilles issue forced him to undergo surgery in 2024, and now, after months of rehabilitation and setbacks, he is finally ready to return to the AFL stage with renewed confidence.

The small forward admitted that his Achilles tendinitis injury went beyond the usual level of discomfort.  

“A lot of people get Achilles tendinitis, but mine sort of spiralled a little bit out of control,” Spargo said.

“I had a heel spur on the back of my heel, and for three or four years, it was just a niggle that I had dealt with.

“Then at the end of the pre-season last year, it started going downhill – not warming up anymore, which wasn’t a good sign.”

Despite extensive treatments and rehabilitation efforts, the pain continued.

“We tried a lot of different stuff throughout the year to try and get it right, and essentially, around June (or) July, nothing was getting better, and we ended up deciding the best course was to operate”, he said.

Spargo has faced injury struggles before, notably in his draft year when he suffered a significant shoulder injury. However, the Achilles setback proved to be one of the most frustrating periods of his career.

It wasn’t the length of time that I was out for… this one was quite tough, being that we tried so many different things, and it didn’t seem to work,” the 25-year-old said.

“I would work myself back up for four to six weeks and then get to the spot where I’m about to really increase my loads to get back to play, and everything would sort of just go back to square one – so that was really tough.

“I think once I went under the knife and spoke to a few other people that had the same surgery, that filled me with a lot of confidence to get it done.”

After months of rehabilitation, Spargo finally hit a major milestone in his recovery.

“Last week, I had a full training session with all the guys who didn’t play against North Melbourne – sort of ticking off and saying that I’m ready to return to play, the dynamic small forward said.

“So, it’s the best decision we’ve made, and I’m just excited to be back playing.”

His rehabilitation journey was made possible by the incredible medical and performance staff at Melbourne.

“There’s been a number of people who have been really good, Spargo said.

“In particular, the physios and Selwyn (Griffith) have been awesome.

“Keith (De Souza) has been with me through my rehab the whole time, Zach Nelson, our physio, has been quite pivotal in giving me treatment, and then Jacob (Jewson), the Doc, as well – those three working together as a team to put together the best program.

“It was tough last year; we couldn’t, as a group, sort of come up with something that worked for quite a while, and it was difficult, but I appreciate they were doing everything they could to try and get it sorted, and they were working their arses off.”

Spargo recently made his long-awaited return, facing Sandringham in a VFL practice match. The decision was made to implement a limited workload, easing him back into action.

“Yeah, it was good. I think it was a successful return. I only played a half—I would’ve liked to have been out there for longer, he said.

“Just naturally, being back playing, it was quite fun, and I was enjoying it, but yeah, it was good – I felt really sharp, and the Achilles felt great, which is awesome.

“Still bridging that gap a little bit with the match fitness, so I was pretty knackered after the first quarter, and the heat got to me a little bit towards the end, but I had a great time out there, which is the main thing.”

While returning to match fitness is still a work in progress, Spargo is embracing the extra workload to regain a full level of AFL conditioning.

“You know, playing one half is good, but there’s a lot of reactive agility moments within a half that you need to kind of limit when you’re reloading, Spargo said.

“So unfortunately, the best way to get me back to match fitness without having all those uncontrollable elements is to run around the boundary line for another 45 minutes.

“So, got about 5 or 6k’s worth of extra running at the end, which will help bridge the gap back towards AFL level, which is the main thing. So – no fun, but you got to do it.”

Moving forward pain free, Spargo is excited to run around in front of the Dees faithful yet again.