Photo: Mark Avellino
If there was an award for the most luckless individual in Victorian football over the last two seasons, Adrian Chiappetta’s name would be right up there in contention.
The Oakleigh Cannons centre-half made just his third league appearance for the club in yesterday’s 6-0 thumping of Avondale FC, after a 16-month layoff due to two separate knee injuries, and one pesky sickness.
“The week before last I got cleared to get a game under my belt, but I was sick, so I missed that,” Chiappetta said after the win against Avondale.
It typified the type of journey he’d had since trading Northcote City for the confines of Jack Edwards Reserve in 2015, as he suffered an ACL injury just two games into the season with his new club.
Chiappetta recovered to feature in pre-season this year, only to then get struck down again on the eve of the NPL Victoria season with a set-back on his troublesome knee.
“I did the ACL last year in March and came back this year in February. I was ready to go, but I did my meniscus,” he said.
“So now it’s just been waiting for the meniscus to heal back up, which has been right for the last six-eight weeks, but I just needed to tick off those boxes. I’ve gotten through training, full-contact, turning and all that sort of stuff.
“It’s been really tough mentally for me because this has been my first major injury. I haven’t sat on the bench or the sidelines ever since I’ve started playing so it was really tough mentally.
“Physically it has been good. I’ve gotten a lot of help from a few different guys, Joey at Next Level and Christian at Woodford Sports who have really helped me off the field with getting my strength and conditioning back up.”
He recovered from his illness to make a long awaited return to the pitch last weekend, featuring for the Oakleigh Under-20’s in a 4-1 win over Bentleigh Greens.
The 28-year-old was supposed to feature in the reserves once again this weekend, but a fifth yellow card of the season dished out to Steve Pantelidis last week opened up an opportunity for the defender to slip onto the bench.
“It felt great to get a game. Tonight there were a few boys suspended, a few injuries so I was lucky to sit on the bench, but it was good to get on,” he said.
“I played 20’s last week and I was supposed to play again tonight to get the minutes under my belt, but as I said, there was a few boys missing so I jumped in.
“[The plan had] just been three reserves games and then see how I am to get into the fold. The timeline has come forward just a little bit, but I’m happy about it.
The scoreline read 5-0 by the time his number was called by the Oakleigh coaching staff; the inflated scoreline not lost on Chiappetta as he admitted it helped rid the lingering nerves of his return to the first team fold.
“There wasn’t much pressure, I could just go out there and play, which was the perfect situation [to return],” he said.
“It was good to get through it. It was also good to get that [mental] barrier out of my head, I’ll take confidence. I went out there and I didn’t think about anything so it was good.”
For Chiappetta, he’s become accustomed to the process of going one step forward, two steps back after so many setbacks on his road to recovery.
Ironically, he now takes a backwards step with the hope of making bigger strides in the future, as he reveals a return to the reserves awaits as he looks to get minutes under his belt, before being considered once more for senior selection the week after.
Even then, a spot in the starting XI is not guaranteed for the man who led Northcote City a milestone 2013 VPL Championship, with Oakleigh currently in the driving seat for a spot in the NPL Finals.
The added competition for places – which boasts the aforementioned Pantelidis, as well as Aron Wilford, Dom D’Angelo, Konstantinos Stratomitros and Steven Topalovic all capable of playing in a centre-half role – is something that he admits has pushed him to get back to peak fitness.
Chiappetta is eyeing not only a return to the first team fold, but also a return to finals football after the Cannons comfortably missed out last season after a tumultuous league campaign.
“If I was getting into a team where I’d walk straight back in, I don’t think physically I’d be where I am now,” he said.
“All the boys are putting in at training and there’s good quality boys in the dressing room. Steve Pantelidis has got to step back in and I’ve got Aron Wilford [to displace] so there’s a lot of quality.
“There was a lot of doubt around about the team leading into the season but we’ve always had the quality. It’s a new group so we just needed to come together and we have now.
“There’s no stopping us and we’ll definitely be there around finals.”