“In June, this is a six-week injury…but…”

It was the pause and then continuation during the dreaded diagnosis sentence that was all that Jeremy Howe needed to hear.

Having strained his adductor in the Pies’ final home and away season clash of 2025, the defender knew it would be a race against the clock to return to the side in the quest for a deep finals campaign.

As he arrived for a scan the morning after the Round 24 clash, the Qualifying Final in a fortnight’s time against a to-be-determined opponent was already out of the question. It was whether he’d be available for the Preliminary Final should the Pies make it that the veteran was sweating on.

And as he entered the MRI machine with hope in his heart of a positive outcome, he knew the mental purgatory that was to come in the following days would be just as painful as the physical strain he was feeling.

“This phase right now is not the enjoyable phase.  It’s the silence phase,” Howe said as he drove out of Melbourne Park’s scanning facility on August 23 last year.

Followed from start to finish in Episode Three of ‘On the Inside: Collingwood’s 2025 Season’, Howe’s rehabilitation of what was his third injury in the final stages of the year is covered in every detail.

Sitting in the players’ lounge in the days after the scan, Howe awaited the outcome with anxiety written all over his face, as Club Doctor Sam Harkin outlined the severity of the injury.

“In June, this is a six-week injury,” Dr Harkin said.

“But, it all depends on the acute phase over the next week or so with how it responds.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be fantastic, so it had to be a bit more than it was.”

While not ideal, the ‘but’ was the hope that Howe could cling onto.

Clearly disheartened, but not defeated, Howe digested what was ahead of him as he mapped out a plan to make an unlikely return.

“These (results) are where you crave the info that you want and then if it doesn’t come across as what you really desired it kind of puts you on the backburner a little bit,” he said.

“I’ve had a bit of a broken up back third of the year, since probably about Round 17.

“We’ve got a lot of work to go to get myself right and get back fit and able.

“I’m under no illusions that I’ve got so much work to do to get back.

“You can’t help but sometimes think ‘geez, it’s me again’, but you can’t sit in sorrow and be down in the dumps for too long.”

And that he didn’t, as he wasted no time in getting to work.

Whether it was bike sessions in the sauna, swimming laps in the Club’s pool, or completing solo on-field sessions under the watchful eye of Head of High Performance Jarrod Wade, the 35-year-old’s intent to turn a six-week injury into four was evident.

While the team was still yet to qualify during the first half of Howe’s journey, a Preliminary Final was the goal. Spending hours at the Club, Howe inured himself with the isolation of rehab as he chased something which might not have even materialised.

And at the heart of the sacrifice, was time spent wife his wife and young family – realities of the period that Howe bemoaned, while understanding its necessity.

“We’ve got to get moving and every day has got to be good. Can’t afford to have too many setbacks,” he said.

“You’re striving to get back as quickly as possible, sacrifice is something that comes with it.

“My days off are spent here at the Club getting after it and the sacrificial part is almost time with your family which is really hard but in the short term those are the decisions that have to be made.

“They (Howe’s family) give me everything that I need, they give me the space and the time and they give me all the love and support that I require to get me through.

“You’ve almost got to go a bit inner and put a lot of time into your own body and yourself to try and make sure you’re doing everything possible to make sure you get right.”

Howe’s family are there throughout the journey, with the team’s thrilling win against the Adelaide Crows in the first week of finals providing a spring in the step for the clan.

And while it gave the 2023 Premiership player all the more hope that he could have the chance to play off in another push for a flag, the flip side of the equation for one of Howe’s teammates is uncovered in the episode too.

Wil Parker, who came into the side in place of Howe for the Qualifying Final, is faced with his own anxieties on the back of his veteran teammate’s bid to return.

While the 23-year-old remained pragmatic in his view that the equation for him was simple – a fit Howe meant he would be back out of the side – Parker’s story is the side of the miracle return arc often forgotten in sport.

“If Howie is fit and available, I have absolutely no issues with that at all,” Parker said during a round of golf between the Qualifying and Preliminary Finals.

“We are 100 per cent a better team with Howie in it.

“At this stage in our finals series, I’m just willing to contribute in any way that I can.

“It’s not the time to get selfish, it’s the time to just go for the ultimate prize of the flag and I’m willing to do whatever I can, whatever my role may be to achieve that.”

As it panned out, Howe was successful in shaving two weeks off what would have been his suggested recovery time had the injury fallen a couple of months earlier.

Wade is there to tick him off on the Thursday of Prelim week and Howe can’t hide his excitement on the way home that same day.

“I’m back in. It’s pretty epic considering where we got to from three weeks ago to where we are now,” he said.

“I’m incredibly grateful to get back and crack in.

“What better way than in front of probably 98,000 [people]…let’s f**king go.”

The first episode of the documentary airs at 7pm on Tuesday 3 March on 7Plus – with all three episodes available immediately after.