A Joondalup and Wanneroo product has returned to the Western Force after recovering from a double leg break and surgery complication when doctors discovered a rod “nailed” into her knee tendon.
Tamika Jones said she took up the sport when she was 12 in Joondalup after being invited along by a friend for a game and instantly falling in love with it.
The 20-year-old flanker is a former Joondalup Sisters and Wanneroo Rugby Club player who joined the Force in 2021 in a season cut short due to COVID.
Jones’s quality shone in a breakthrough 2022 season, which saw her win the club’s best and fairest and the Super W Members’ MVP award when she was 18, earning her a Wallaroos call-up in the process.
She was in flying form, but her career was abruptly put on pause at the start of 2023 by a double-leg break.
“I ended up breaking my tibia and fibula, and I was out for a whole year, so it was a bit of a tough time for me,” she said.
“I broke a tackle and scored a try, but as I scored the try, the opponent twisted my body in a weird way, and my leg ended up snapping.
”I had surgery in January 2023. Probably three months after surgery, I started getting pain in my knee. I ignored it in the beginning and just thought it was part of the healing process.
“I ended up going to the doctors, they did a scan and told me there was a screw poking out in my knee, but they told me it was too early to take out and they had to wait until my bone was healed to remove it.”
Jones said the long wait until September to remove the rod and screws brought a surprising discovery from doctors.
“Surgery came along, I got the rod out and I was told there was no screw poking out, it was actually the rod nailed into the tendon of my knee,” she said.
“That ended up putting me out for an extra five months, and I ended up getting patellar tendinitis from it.”
Despite the serious setback, 2024 looks much brighter after Jones made her return in February during a pre-season game against Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix. She said her sights are set on another Wallaroos call-up.
“Because of that horrific injury, I just take it each game at a time, but my long-term goal is to make the Wallaroos squad again and hopefully travel with them this year,” she said.
Jones said the women’s league had grown in stature to now play at HBF Stadium.
“I’ve definitely seen growing numbers in the crowd and community as well. The Force and Rugby Australia are doing a really great job in advertising the Super W game, so there’s definitely an increase of pride and community as well,” she said.