“Lucky to stick around”: Fantasia opens up on repeated injury heartbreak

Orazio Fantasia has opened up on the consistent injury battles he faced during his decade-long AFL career, revealing he struggled to deal with the mental toll that his poor physical health took on him.

Fantasia was confident he provided value during his tenures at three different AFL clubs over 12 seasons, but stated he would avoid conversations with family and friends when his on-field play wavered, largely due to injuries.

“Without sounding like an arrogant w****r, I don't think I would have lasted as long playing so little if I didn't have something else adding value to the team,” Fantasia said on The Soda Room podcast.

“You just wouldn't have someone around if they were averaging 10 games for 12 seasons.

“It is not a lot of footy, but clearly I was adding value somewhere else, so that's why I was probably lucky to stick around.

"But [I was] probably a s**t boyfriend, a s**t mate, a s**t son.

"I think my way of dealing with [injuries], and it definitely is the wrong way, but looking back on it, I went very insular.

"Mates would be calling, and I wouldn't just respond; parents would be calling, and I wouldn't respond.

"And it's not because I didn't care or love those people, it was because I just knew it would be the same conversation... and I couldn't just muster up the courage to deal with those conversations over and over again.

"Because I would be going to the club and the physios would be like ‘how are you feeling today? What are we doing?"

Debuting in 2014 for the Essendon Bombers, Fantasia would go on to play 120 games for three clubs across his AFL career, with short stints at Port Adelaide and Carlton after departing the Hanger in 2020 with 80 games under his belt.

He only managed to tally at least 20 senior appearances in a single season once, which happened to be his career-best, 39-goal campaign for the Dons in 2017.

Fantasia revealed the toughest part of the realisation that his AFL playing days were over was seeing mates he was drafted alongside boast glamorous AFL careers, while he struggled to stay healthy week-to-week.

“Every day I am going through this cycle where it is the same thing, and I am doing everything possible to get back,” Fantasia said.

“I am tracking sleep, and just nothing is working, like am I broken?

“And then you question yourself like, why can't I do this, everyone else seems to be able to knock game after game.

“Guys I got drafted with, when I was at Carlton ‘Crippa' [Patrick Cripps] is playing his 200th, 230th, 240th, Zach Merrett 250, like these guys I got drafted with, and I am just ticking over a hundred.

“Why couldn't I play that many? I wish I could have, but it's my journey at the end of the day.”

Fantasia also provided insight into the Bombers' struggles to emerge from a rebuild, highlighting the club's instability in his days donning the sash as a key component of their ultimate shortcomings.

The 30-year-old played in two losing finals for the Bombers, notably leading his team in score involvements in their 2019 elimination final against West Coast.

"The instability of the club was probably the one thing that hurt us the most," Fantasia said.

"We had five senior coaches in the seven years I was there. That instability was probably the one thing that let us down.

"It has still taken a while, that stuff takes time... There's so many good people who have left the club, and that's probably the hardest part, I think, because we were building something special."