The former world no. 1 struggled with an identical big toe injury to Fisher’s for years before he elected to have a plate inserted in 2012.
While Hewitt hasn’t won a major tournament since the 2002 US Open, he’s returned to the top 50 in the world and recovered fully from an injury that threatened to prematurely end his career.
As Fisher explained on SEN’s pre-match show on Sunday afternoon, he’s taken great solace from Hewitt’s rise back up the world rankings. And despite the 2001 Wimbledon champion's self-confessed love for the Crows (even though Hewitt's uncle Daryl played 26 games for St Kilda in the early 1980s), he was happy to pass on some advice to Fisher.
“I had a toe injury which got worse as the season went on last year. I finally had a major operation on it and I fused the toe joint so that took some time to get used to,” he said.
“I was always positive about my toe joint and in speaking to Lleyton [Hewitt], he said he should have done it years earlier. In hindsight we both should have. Just using him and his resources gave me confidence that I would get through that one.”
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The 31-year-old, who has played just five quarters of VFL football since round 11 last year, grew up in Barmera, South Australia and is two years younger than the Adelaide-born Hewitt.“It sort of looked like he was at the end of his career and he had the toe joint fused and we’ve seen how well he’s come back from the surgery,” he said.
Fisher’s summer was solid following the operation. As rehab progressed into full training in October, he became more confident that he’d be able to play an 11th season of AFL football uninhibited, until injury struck again.
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“I got to the final hurdle just before the NAB Cup and I did my hamstring. It just keeps on occurring at the moment so we are trying to figure out why.”The two-time best and fairest returned via the VFL in Sandringham’s round three clash against North Ballarat.
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Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Ricciuto and Andrew Mcleod
A solid four-quarter performance in the win catapulted him into the selection mix for St Kilda’s Anzac Day game against Brisbane in New Zealand, and although he was ultimately named as an emergency for the match, it appeared that it was only a matter of time until Fisher returned to the senior fold – especially given Sam Gilbert and Nathan Wright’s long-term injuries.But the following Sunday, history repeated itself and he limped from the field after just five minutes of play against Essendon's VFL affiliate at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.
Despite the setback, which will sideline him for another month, not once did Fisher contemplate retirement.
“I am positive that I will get back and play a really good role for us this year,” he said.
“I actually flew to Canberra to see a hamstring guru up at the AIS and he actually found a little something in my tendon which we hadn’t come across.
“It wasn’t picked up on the MRI so that’s a really positive thing that we found that. Now that it’s the tendon we will treat it a little bit more cautiously now and hopefully I will be back in about four weeks.”
Up until 2013, Fisher had been remarkably durable for a 191cm defender who often played on the best lead-up forwards in the AFL.
In the Grand Final years of 2009 and 2010, he played 48 games out of a possible 51 and finished seventh in the best and fairest in both seasons.
The 2010 Grand Final
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By his own admission, Fisher became so used to being an integral member of the Saints setup, that an extended period in the recovery room became hard to deal with.“It’s hard to stay in touch with the boys and you probably get isolated a bit, although I do have a few partners in our rehab group at the moment,” he said.
“It’s frustrating not training on your craft, but instead I’m trying to get my body right – especially when you get to 30 years old.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the out-of-contract 191-game veteran, who is enjoying watching the next generation of Saints stars make their mark in a developing team.
“It’s exciting having all these new guys around the place. Just their vibrancy around the club is great and it’s awesome to be a part of at the moment. It’s certainly revitalised some of the new guys.”
And even though he hasn’t played a game under Alan Richardson yet, Fisher can still appreciate the value of the first-year coach’s clear direction and honest messages.
“Richo’s been fantastic,” he said.
“He’s come in and he’s a no fuss sort of guy. He’s straight down the line and hard and fair and the boys have been playing a solid brand of football.”
