ADAM Docker, every afternoon, feels the knee start aching at smoko.

Then by evening, it swells.

Throbs.

“Waking me through the night,’’ says this Shellharbour plumber, “with a pain like I’ve just come out of surgery”.

Which is still better than a few months back.

“Oh, initially, I was working as a scaffolder,’’ Docker continues. “And walking around all day, carrying stuff everywhere, it was just too much.

media_camera Former Penrith player Adam Docker is now a Shellharbour plumber. Picture: Simon Bullard.

“I had to quit.

“Even now, my knee hurts walking up stairs. Hurts climbing in and out of trenches.

“It’s always in my head ... always hurting.”

And still, his pain runs deeper.

Knowing that come 8pm Friday at Pepper Stadium, when Penrith runs out to continue its playoffs push against Wests Tigers, a place should be set aside for him.

But there isn’t one.

media_camera Docker was one of the most promising forwards in the game.

Nor will he go.

Just as this forgotten footballer hasn’t walked into any NRL ground — or barely watched a game on TV — in the 10 months since his left knee was deemed shot by four different surgeons.

Done, and unemployed, by age 24.

Which isn’t how this story was supposed to go.

No, for when Docker first headlined a League Central cover two years ago, it was as the game’s most exciting young enforcer.

More than just a Next Big Thing out Penrith way, this 90 kilo assassin was already being measured for NSW and Australian jerseys, thanks largely to an aggressive tackling style that could knock the teeth from even a whirring chainsaw.

Mark Geyer, for example, reckoned Docker had “Origin written all over”. So too then Test coach Tim Sheens, who likened the lock to “a young Paul Gallen”.

Hell, even Panthers boss Phil Gould oozed about that defensive technique being “among the best I’ve seen ... the kid has no fear”.

Which is why tonight, Docker should be out there.

Continuing his rise among that galaxy of Panthers young guns including Nathan Cleary, Matt Moylan, Bryce Cartwright, even Josh Mansour.

“But I’m not there,’’ Docker shrugs. “And there’s nothing I can do about it.”

So quietly, he hurts.

media_camera Injuries ruined Docker’s career.

“At home, I’ve got two framed jerseys hanging on my lounge room wall,’’ the 25-year-old continues. “One is my debut jersey from Penrith, the other from representing Country.

“And sometimes, I just stare at them. For ages. Thinking about how close I got.”

Yet chatting now at his Albion Park worksite — left knee lubricated by a mix of painkillers, vitamins and fish oil tablets — the last thing Docker wants from you is sympathy.

Remembering that this is the son of a 1980s bush footballer dubbed ‘The Doctor’, so easily did he put grown men to sleep.

A leaguie who himself fought back from dislocated foot bones, a pair of snapped thumbs, even 24 hours in a coma after a vicious and unprovoked street attack.

On that occasion, in 2011, it was some 20 thugs armed with bricks and wine bottles who not only broke Docker’s jaw in two places, but very nearly ended him.

Yet still, the kid overcame.

Fought back.

Displaying a grit that would continue deep into his only real NRL season, in 2014, when this rising Panther suffered so many serious concussions, he required a clearance from head specialists to continue.

media_camera Docker was forced to retire at 24.

“So the fact I’m retired at 25, it upsets me,’’ Docker says. “But I’m OK. I’m coping.”

And for proof, listen as he talks about his Shellharbour Sharks.

An under-16s team which, starting this year, had barely enough players to take the field.

But now, with this tradie assisting close mate and coach Adam Taylor, well, they head into the playoffs as minor premiers.

Boasting a defence causing rival players to shudder, too.

“I’m helping the boys with tackle technique, yeah,’’ Docker grins. “And they’re getting out there and using it.

“I love it.”

Just as, somewhat ironically, he takes similar joy from the team that should be his.

“It’s great to see how Penrith are going, definitely,’’ he continues. “While I don’t really watch footy these days, if I do tune into a game, it’s them.

“Having all those young guys going well, guys I came into grade with, it makes me happy.”

And as for what advice Docker would give them?

“Take nothing for granted,’’ he says. “Because I did, big time.

“Just thinking footy would always be there.

“Even now, I read about young players slipping up, doing things that could potentially end their careers. You want them to understand they still have a choice. I didn’t.”

No, for Docker, the end came thanks to a joint boasting so much arthritis, and so little cartilage, it already needs replacing.

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“Apparently it’s the knee of a 50-year-old,’’ he shrugs. “I had an operation, physiotherapy, nothing worked.

“By the finish, there was so much swelling it had to be drained after every game. Which the doctor was OK with ... until he noticed flakes of cartilage coming out.”

And just like that, Docker didn’t so much retire as simply disappear.

With nothing.

For when Parramatta veteran Anthony Watmough’s knee failed him earlier this year, he was only one winter into a four-year deal worth $750,000 annually.

So the rest, he gets.

But Docker? He was coming off contract when Panthers staff first noticed that dodgy left joint.

So he earned a duck egg.

Unable to try even one last-ditch surgery option because “it cost 10 grand ... and I didn’t have it”.

But again, no complaints.

“Since finishing up I haven’t got that much help,’’ Docker concedes. “None, to be honest.

“But it is what it is.

“You’ve just got to go out and get on with things. Which for me is about getting through today and finding ways to keep the swelling down in my knee.

“After all, I’ve still got the rest of my life to work.”