At Eighteen years old, Brewarrina's Clinton O'Connor was certain he'd never get the chance to play footy again.
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As a youngster, he'd been a footy tragic, playing from the under 12's in his local team all the way up to the seniors side at 18, but one terrifying accident derailed any hopes of going further.
O'Connor suffered horrific injuries to one of his legs after the motorbike he was riding on struck a barrier and caused injuries that required an emergency flight to Dubbo Base Hospital.
There, doctors told him that there was nothing that could be done except amputation.
"It was a pretty big blow," O'Connor said.
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"I'd played footy from under 12's all the way up to my accident and then I didn't think I'd ever be able to play again."
Nine years on from his accident, a chance occurrence gave O'Connor another shot at taking to the field, after he discovered the New South Wales Physical Disability Rugby League competition.
"It was at the end of last year, I was watching the Footy Show and I saw it on there and I just e-mailed them straight away."
"I had to go to the doctors and make sure I was classed as able to play the sport, then it all went from there, I went to Sydney, had a trial game, and have been playing since."
Now, having just finished his debut season with the Newtown Jets, O'Connor has added another achievement to a growing list, that of a rugby league premiership.
"It was pretty amazing actually, at the end of the normal season before the finals, we were coming fourth, we just scraped it in into the top four and had to work our way there," O'Connor said.
The Jets downed their rivals in the grand final, coming back from having lost to the South Sydney Rabbitohs 36 - 16 in the last round of the regular season to defeat the Rabbitohs 16 - 4 at the New Era Stadium in Cabramatta.
"It was a big defeat for us in that last regular round, so yeah, it felt good to get it back and turn it around."
The premiership is a welcome accomplishment for O'Connor, who fell short of achieving a grand final win in his previous playing span.
"It's the first grand final I've ever won, my last grand final was in the under 12's."
But getting to hold the trophy aloft was only one part of the celebratory feeling for O'Connor, who also relished the opportunity to get the word out about the opportunities available for disabled athletes.
"It's amazing," O'Connor said.
"To get the chance to show other people they can get stuck in and participate in something like this as well, is great."
"Out west people haven't heard about it at all, so it would be good to get more people from the west involved, certainly."