West Coast star Jeremy McGovern admits he ‘lost a little bit of trust’ after four injury-hampered seasons

West Coast star Jeremy McGovern has admitted he has “lost a little bit of trust” in his body after injuries have restricted him to only 46 games in the past four seasons. McGovern, 31, is coming off a rare, near-faultless pre-season with a sore groin last month the only hiccup of his summer. The four-time All-Australian defender is set to be ready for next weekend’s season opener against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval as the Eagles look to rebound from a disastrous 2023. McGovern only played nine of the 23 games last season after he sustained a serious hamstring injury in the round three western derby, which kept him sidelined until round 17. He has played more than 15 games since 2019 and only 46 of 85 in the past four seasons because of a variety of injuries. McGovern hopes they’re behind him now after heading to Qatar late last season alongside teammates Elliot Yeo and Harry Edwards to work with world-renowned ‘Lower Leg Guru’ Dr Enda King in Qatar. “I’ve lost a little bit of trust in it (my body) for sure. I feel like I’ve tried to do everything I can to play footy. That’s what I’m here for and that’s what I love doing,” McGovern said. “I’ve put a lot of time and effort in the past few years to stay on the park but it’s a game of footy though, there’s no unwritten law that you can’t get injured. “You can do everything you can and still get injuries, that’s just part of the game so you do lose a little bit of trust but that’s what pre-season is for, to try to gain it back and strengthen your body as well as you can and that started in Qatar.” McGovern said he was feeling fit as ever for this time of year but had shifted focus to being more durable as he looked to put his injury concerns behind him. “My fitness level is similar. I’ve mentioned before in the past two or three years I’ve been working on it,” McGovern said. “This year was a bit more durability rather than fitness. “I was focused on trying to strengthen the body holistically and try to minimize that chance of getting injured and missing games.” Part of making himself more durable was McGovern using the lessons he learnt from King in Qatar especially when he was hampered by groin soreness after their intra-club last month. “We’ve implemented a few things around the footy club from that camp … that helped me ease some soreness in it for sure,” McGovern said. “It’s helped a lot of the boys with some issues and stuff that we’ve had previously. “We’ve learnt a few different little things but a lot of it is similar to here, we’ve got high-end guys here so it’s more reiterating different techniques and ways to do things. It was a worthwhile trip.” McGovern also shut down any suggestion the Eagles weren’t focusing on wins in 2024 as they work through the biggest rebuild in their history. “We want to win. We’re not going into games hoping we win three quarters or a half, we want to win as much as we can,” McGovern said. “We will probably nut it down to that at stages, but most teams do wherever they’re at. “But we will be going at there trying to win as much as we can. and we’ll reflect on quarters and stuff as the year progresses.”