Former Hawthorn premiership player Terry Wallace has broken down the gruesome injury suffered by Jarryn Geary on the weekend – one he also went through during his career.

Geary could miss as much as the rest of the 2019 season after undergoing emergency surgery to release pressure from a cork in his leg, known as compartment syndrome.

Wallace described the ugly injury as essentially a heart attack to your leg and doesn’t expect to see Geary any time soon.

“Compartment syndrome is what he’s gone through, people just don’t understand sometimes in the stands, you know, he’ll come back in six weeks and people will expect him to come in and play,” he told SEN Afternoons.

“This guy has had his thigh cut open, completely split open, exposing the muscle.

“I had exactly the same, but mine was in the calf. What happens is you bleed so heavily that the blood gets up against the sheath in your muscle and it’s so tight it actually cuts off the blood supply to the muscle.

“So it actually kills the muscle, it’s almost like a heart attack to your leg. We’ve had people that’ve lost their limbs through compartment syndrome.”

Wallace said he came back too soon from his own version of the injury.

“I came back from mine in four weeks and I got to half-time of the game and thought my foot is just burning hot,” he said.

“So I’ve taken off my boot and the whole thing had split open. Where the stitches had been, it tore open.

“So I’ve taken off my boot and my whole boot was full of blood so I’ve had to poor the blood out of my boot, get it sort of strapped back together to go out and play the second half.

“Once the operations been had it’s just recovery, the most serious part is just getting it done. All it is now is recovery, but he just can’t come back too early. He has to get it 100 per cent right.”

The St Kilda captain suffered the injury will saving a certain Melbourne goal during the side’s impressive win on the weekend.

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