MARTY Hore’s positive outlook and strong work ethic earned the former Leitchville-Gunbower player the chance to lock in a place in Melbourne Football Club’s backline next year.
After a promising 2019 debut season for the Demons in which he managed 14 senior games, injury prevented Hore adding to that total in 2020.
However, the club was happy to offer him a one-year deal, with his dedication to overcoming adversity catching the eye of its officials.
“Marty had a difficult year with some unique injuries and he worked incredibly hard to get back and play the final two scratch matches of the year,” Demons general manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said.
Hore outlined the obstacles he overcame, starting with a fractured toe suffered at training.
“I was in a moonboot for two weeks and then coming back from that I was in the gym doing some easy weights and my quad tendon ruptured,” he said.
That required surgery and was considered something that would take 14 weeks to recover from.
However, a committed approach to rehabilitation got him back on the field in 11 or 12 weeks, playing well in the scratch matches.
“I had to build my legs up again because I couldn’t run for eight weeks, so (there was) a lot of strength work in the gym and then when I was able to run just getting a lot of kilometres in the legs,” Hore said.
Although he missed being on the field, he spent about three months in the unique atmosphere of the Demons’ Queensland COVID hub, enjoying the experience.
“It was good being around everyone and you got to know a lot about your teammates,” he said.
Melbourne shared its hub home near Twin Waters with Collingwood, Essendon, North Melbourne and Melbourne Storm players.
Back working on the Leitchville dairy farm of parents Steven and Deanne, he is setting his sights on a full season of senior action in 2021.
Hore believes his parents are appreciative of the extra set of hands on the farm, although recent finger surgery has reduced the range of duties he can currently tackle.
When Gannawarra Times called, he was in charge of the excavator, just as he was when his father told him he’d been drafted to Melbourne.
He played up forward for Leitchville-Gunbower, being moved to the backline when he arrived at the Bendigo Pioneers.
