Oscar Allen’s year from hell: The secret injury, dark West Coast days and why he chose Brisbane

There was the knee injury in the first game of the season which he told no one about.

And then the sharp and excruciating embarrassment he felt over the fall-out from his meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.

Allen is happy again, now. Loving his new club Brisbane Lions, the people who run it, and the weight which has clearly lifted off his shoulders.

The 26-year-old feels lighter and has more stability in his daily life out of the Perth spotlight.

And he has quickly made a big impact up north, being elevated straight into the Lions’ leadership group as they hunt a third-straight flag.

But last year was as testing as it gets.

Especially, when he was compelled to do a press conference apologising to West Coast fans and teammates for meeting Mitchell as he weighed up his future.

Allen can’t watch it back. Never wants to see it again.

He was in tears for much of that day.

It was the year from hell, and things went downhill as soon as he wrenched his knee in the first match of the season against Gold Coast.

“I actually hurt the patella tendon in the first game of last year,” Allen told Code Sports.

“I did that in round one and I played the whole year with it.

“I never told anyone about it because it was not important, but I was playing all year with a patella tendon that needed to be surgically-repaired.

“And people were saying ‘He’s not jumping at the ball’. Well, I couldn’t jump.”

So, why didn’t he say something about it?

As co-captain, Allen said he felt a responsibility. An obligation to his young team in a tough spot.

Allen played in only six wins in his last three years at the club.

His intentions were noble and selfless, but in hindsight he might make a different decision.

It was a year, he said, which taught him more than any other.

“My job is to play footy, so that is what I was doing,” he said.

“I had that (patella tendon injury) and the achilles injury towards the back half of the year which ended my season.

“While I was recovering from that achilles surgery – that is when the surgeon decided that we also needed to fix my knee.

“I was inhibited for a long period of time, and then eventually your body just gives in on you, really.

“How much of that was psychological stress that probably led to my body needing a break or actually performance-wise (struggling), I don’t know.

“It was probably a combination of both.

“I didn’t sleep a hell of a lot.

“But meeting up with ‘Fages’ (Chris Fagan) and the whole Brisbane crew, they just seemed like great people.”

It was the second year in a row Allen’s body packed up on him amid stints in the back line last season.

In 2023, the Whitford product looked like one of the most promising key forwards in the competition, booting 53 goals.

But last year West Coast seemed happy to let him go as part of a free agency move which netted the Eagles pick two and exciting young tall Cooper Duff-Tytler.

Allen doesn’t carry the pain and angst of it all, anymore.

He has chosen to let it go as part of this fresh start at Brisbane and remains great mates with a lot of West Coast players and coaching staff, including senior coach Andrew McQualter.

But when news of his meeting with Mitchell hit, life took a drastic turn.

And the press conference was a horrendous day as he fronted the cameras with a wobble in his voice.

In front of Perth media, the Eagles’ co-captain was clearly hurting, saying he felt “ashamed” and “remorseful” for being a “distraction” for the rest of the club.

The whole thing seemed unfair, if not entirely humiliating, for Allen.

These secret meetings are commonplace across the league every year.

Allen just never intended for his to go public.

“It is something I don’t reflect on positively. It was fair dinkum probably the worst experience of my life, to be honest,” Allen said.

“It was something I will never watch again and I don’t want to watch again.

“You say I was on the brink of tears. Trust me, before the interview I was crying and after the interview I was crying.

“I was having a tough time with everything, but I also think I learned a lot from it as well.

“I just have this belief and feeling that everything happens for a reason, and you know what? It has led me to be here.

“In a place where I am incredibly happy.

“I feel really well-supported by the Lions, I feel really well-supported by my wife (Lorna). She is a superstar.

“She is really happy and comfortable here. So not just footy-wise but holistically life-wise.”

By the time things imploded, Allen was ready for change. And while Hawthorn was clearly keen on him, so was Brisbane in the background.

Here was a long-term opportunity to go from the worst team in the AFL to the best.

And with such a young and talented midfield group, Brisbane’s premiership window looks set to stay open for many years.

There were eight players in the grand final team which toppled Geelong last year aged 23 or under.

From a list management perspective, it’s a big, fat flag sweet spot.

The Lions just needed two more talls to bolster the spine, and got them largely for nothing as free agents. Allen and former Bomber Sam Draper.

But he doesn’t want to be someone who relies on A-grade service from the brilliant midfielders.

Allen is desperate, perhaps more than anything, to earn his supper each week and re-establish his reputation as a hard-working quality key forward option.

“At times, you have moments where they are putting it on your lap and you can’t do anything but stuff it up,” he said.

“I think probably people recognise internally at the footy club that someone really does their work and provides an option all day and makes a contest and is able to follow up.

“That is something I pride myself on.

“It is great to get it lace-out from the boys every now and then.

“So, yeah, there might be 10 perfect plays a game, but for the other 100 minutes it is ‘hell for leather’.

“I want to make something out of my career and want to prove that all that hard work is worth it.”

Allen and his wife were married in Perth over summer before their New York honeymoon, and the big trip across the country.

They sold their house and packed up their two dogs.

But it wasn’t always easy for Lorna, and her family, either.

“She’s very close with her family and her mum, so to move over here (is big),” he said.

“She started a new job and I disappeared on pre-season camp, but we are both really thriving and enjoying the environment.”

Allen picked the Lions over the Hawks not just because of the attractiveness of the list, and the laid-back Queensland lifestyle, but also the club culture.

In particular, the connection he felt with Fagan, respected footy boss Danny Daly and the senior player leaders, such as Harris Andrews, Josh Dunkley, Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry, among others.

Plus, now Allen drives into the club everyday with one of his new best mates, Draper, who lives just down the road.

And he represents a major boost to a club chasing an historic premiership three-peat as the new number one banana in attack.

Allen said he felt in great shape after a change-up in his leg strength program.

“I was a bit of a late developer. A late-grower. So I feel like I have finally grown into my body,” he said.

“We had a big emphasis when I got here to put on some leg strength. And build-up the foundation.

“Every club has a different strength and conditioning staff and everything we did at West Coast was great and everything we did here was great.

“I feel as fit as I have for a long period of time.”

Allen says he doesn’t harbor a grudge about last year because it was clear to him “everyone was just trying their best for the footy club”.

Despite the intense pressure and turbulence at the Eagles, the big move has delivered so much welcome change.

“Whether they (West Coast) got that right or I got that right, maybe I won’t know,” he said.

“I have lived in Perth my whole life, I was 26 years old. No kids. It is a great opportunity for us to try something new.

“All in all, it wasn’t a great period of time, but that’s all it was. It was a period of time.

“I love WA, I love West Coast. I love West Coast people. I am a West Coast fan. I was growing up.

“I just think they really ride the highs and the lows and that is what makes them great fans because the last three or four years they have had a really rough trot and are still getting 40,000-50,000 there every week.

“That is a credit to them but, I can also see why it (poor performance) would frustrate them.

“In a footy-heavy town, that certainly played a part in it.

“The lifestyle here in Queensland was very attractive.

“Sitting here now 30 degrees, there’s a light breeze and it will be like this in winter as well.

“Whether we play well or play poorly (each week) I can go down and get a coffee or something and life is the same.

“That appeals to me as a person and helping me be a bit more level-headed with everything.

“I feel like Brisbane and Queensland in general provides that opportunity for me as well.”