John Orchard: the man who saved Phillip Hughes' life
Date
November 26, 2014 - 7:17PM
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports Writer, The Sydney Morning Herald
For the past decade, John Orchard has been widely remembered as the NSW team doctor who took a staplegun to a gaping wound in the head of centre Mick DeVere during a State of Origin match.
As it stands, Orchard will now be remembered as the unsung hero who saved the life of Phillip Hughes. He is the reason the young cricketer is still fighting at St Vincent's hospital. They have been harrowing scenes, replayed over and over on our televisions for the past day or so.
Orchard, the NSW cricket team's team doctor, was front and centre soon after Hughes collapsed on the pitch following a bouncer from Sean Abbott that struck him on the side of the head. Amid the grief and desolation since that moment, Orchard is privately being lauded for his quick mind and cool hand.
It was Orchard who performed mouth-to-mouth and CPR on Hughes, in the middle of the ground, then on the medicab as he was taken from the field, and then on the boundary behind a sheet.
It was Orchard who intubated him.
It was Orchard who kept Hughes going until the ambulances and helicopters converged on the ground after what had seemed like an eternity.
It was Orchard who climbed into the ambulance as it rushed to St Vincent's. He was there late on Tuesday night, and there again first thing on Wednesday morning.
Any doctor would deflect the praise. It's what the years of training is supposed to prepare them for.
"Doctor J" is the type of self-effacing character who would rather credit the fast work of Abbott, who immediately cradled Hughes' head. Or Shane Watson and Brad Haddin, who placed their former Blues teammate in the brace position. Or Dave Warner, who frantically called for ambulance and then held his mate's hand on the medicab.
In some respects, though, Hughes was blessed to have Orchard there.
Just up the road from the SCG, along the notorious strip in Kings Cross, young men whack other men with coward punches. They're not fortunate enough to have one of the most experienced and respected sports medicos in the country so close to hand.
Like almost anyone associated with this tragedy, Orchard is not speaking publicly. Understandably so. Those close to him report he is shaken and upset.
He's been the NSW Origin, Roosters, Sydney Swans and Australian cricket team doctor throughout the summers and winters.
But he's also been the NSW cricket team's doctor for the past six years, so he's known Hughes since his early days as a teenager from the mid-north coast who had just arrived in Sydney, chasing his cricketing dream.
What is likely to be hurting Orchard so much is that few sports doctors have been as robust or aggressive about player welfare, in both cricket and football, than he has.
He led the assault on the shoulder charge in the NRL, which has ultimately seen it outlawed from the game but also led to temporary fallout with Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.
"Hasler - the stereotype of a football coach totally obsessed with winning with no regard for welfare of game or opposition players," Orchard tweeted two years ago after Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard was suspended for a shoulder charge.
It was the ASADA storm that's engulfed the NRL in the last two years that led to Orchard ending his 15-year association with the Roosters late last year. He was incensed that personal trainer Sean Carolan was introduced to the club behind his back.
Orchard, known for his supreme intelligence, could also sniff the breeze. His nickname is "Doogie Howser", after the 1980s television show in the US about a medical prodigy. Some say Orchard could've played the part.
Any player or coach who has worked with him tells you he's meticulous and well researched with an insatiable hunger for data. He's an internationally renowned muscle and tendon specialist, making him ideal for elite sporting teams. There probably isn't a sports conference held anywhere in the world in the past two decades where he hasn't spoken.
With that in mind, he intensely guards his integrity and reputation. When Sharks doctor Dave Givney had the finger pointed at him by some as being responsible for what happened at Cronulla under sports scientist Stephen Dank in 2011, he could see where the trend was going. The buck was going to stop with the doctor sooner rather than later for something he had no control of. Best to get out now.
Months after his departure from rugby league, Orchard was leading the calls for stronger concussion rules to be adopted in cricket as it has in the football codes. "If all sports are having to tighten up how they manage concussion, cricket should be the same," he said, while also pushing for a loosening of substitution laws, adding: "It's a little bit of a hollow victory if you're not taking the 20 wickets or anywhere near it because you've simply injured your opponents."
Which brings us back to the staplegun. After using it on DeVere's head, he was ordered by the Australian Rugby League to never use it again in front of TV cameras. But Orchard, with typical belligerence, was adamant the practice didn't hurt the player. At a NSW bonding camp at Foster later in the series, he went out to his car and demonstrated - by punching five staples into his own head.
The story is part of rugby league folklore. Today, Orchard will be better remembered as the doctor who helped save a young cricketer's life.
