Bullet Big Reveals Career-Saving Surgery

Brisbane Bullets big man Tyrell Harrison has revealed how surgery on his elbow effectively saved his career. 

Battling through pain over the past two seasons, Harrison knew something wasn’t right. 

It wasn’t until he saw a surgeon that the true extent of the injury came to light. 

“I got this injury in our 2020 season, so our hub year,” he told Brisbane Bullets Media. 

“It started as a stress fracture, healed from the stress fracture and then it just never got better and I didn’t know why.

“Last season it was what it was and I tried to play through it. I got through some games, but at the end of the day I just couldn’t push through it anymore.”

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Incredibly, Harrison increased his minutes and on-court production in NBL22, but ultimately succumbed to the injury late in the season.

He missed the last 10 games with the elbow injury, and knew it was time for intervention. 

“Last season kind of messed me up mentally,” he said. 

“It got to a stage where ‘do I want surgery? Or do I want to play through this injury again?’.

“I spoke to the surgeon and he said ‘look, we can do go in, drill two holes in it, put two screws on it to reinforce the bone structure, and then just hope that it gets fixed from there. There’s no guarantee that this will work and this is our last option. If the surgery doesn’t work, then that’s it’.”

It was a harsh reality, which left Harrison with a daunting decision. 

“I don’t want to say my career is over with, but if I can’t play through this pain, from here on, that would have been my career,” he said. 

“I went with the surgery and as soon as the surgeon cut me open, he rotated my arm and found a cist, that sat in the bone, half in the bone, half out the bone. He was like ‘that’s not supposed to be there, let me take that out’.”

For a player already such a vital part of the Bullets’ roster, even while battling through pain, it was a defining moment. 

“I woke up … I knew as soon as he told me that was the pain, that was the problem for these past however many years. ‘Let me recover from here, let me do my rehab’, and then after the first two weeks was like the best sleep I’ve had in over two years.

“The pain that I was getting before was gone.”

Of course, after so much uncertainty over the best part of two seasons, the surgery was just part of the battle.

The real challenge would come on the court … being able to cop the knocks, bruises and crunching hits from the giants of the NBL. 

“I was like ‘don’t get too excited … all I’ve got to do is keep rehabbing, keep doing what I’m doing and I’m in, I’m back to 100 per cent’. 

“I just couldn’t wait to play.”

With a giant of the game like Aron Baynes now on the roster, yet another challenge loomed. 

Naturally, Harrison was going to play less minutes, but could he still impact?

After a career-high 19.6 minutes a game last season, he’s now done to 14.3 in NBL23. 

But through all that, Harrison is boasting career-high point and rebound averages. He’s more efficient than ever. 

The pain is gone, the surgery a success, and Tyrell Harrison can continue his rise in the NBL. At 23, there’s still many chapters ahead. 

“I can’t wait to keep playing and keep getting through season pain free,” he added.