‘I planted my leg and it felt like it exploded’: Perth Glory and Wales’ Megan Wynne’s ACL Story

Published by

Jack McRae

on

30th Jun 2025

_{^{Perth Glory’s Megan Wynne suffered her second ACL injury in the final game of the 2024/25 season.. Photograph: Mark Francesca (Provided by Megan Wynne).}}

Perth Glory’s Megan Wynne was trying not to get her hopes up when she received a short text from the Welsh manager Rhian Wilkinson asking her about her plans for the summer. With the final game of the A-League three days away, the May international break weeks away and the European Championships looming large on the horizon, the possibility of a return to the national team for the first time since December 2023 seemed closer than ever for the 32-year-old forward.

Wynne moved to Australia seeking regular playing time with a burning desire to add to her 24 caps for Wales. “A recall was always at the back of my mind and I wanted to push back into that team, because I miss all the girls and I miss playing for Wales,” she says. “Everything was going in my head. I wanted to get through the last game and see what happens. I wanted to keep myself fit, ticking over, and be ready if I was called into camp.”

The last game of the season, a home game against league leaders Melbourne City with little on the line, should have provided few complications. After half an hour, City had made it 3-1 and, chasing the game and the defender down, Wynne raced into a challenge.

“I arrived a second too late and, as my leg has planted, her follow-through has come through me. There was a moment of pain, but it eased off. I got up, did a little jog on the side, a little change of direction and I came back on,” Wynne explains. “It was actually only for three minutes, but it felt like a long time. I nicked the ball on the edge of the box and played a pass inside. Then, I planted my leg and it felt like it exploded. That’s the only way to describe it.“

Wynne’s Wales dream was shattered in an instant. On top of tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) for the second time in her career, Wynne tore both lateral and radial menisci as well as suffering a low-grade tear to both her lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL).

“Pretty much did the whole shebang,” Wynne laughs. “Maybe I shouldn’t have played on, but I felt good and I’d done it before, so I didn’t think it was [an ACL]. It’s hard to look back on it now, but I guess if you’re going to do it, you may as well do it properly.”

*_{^{Wynne left Southampton to join Glory and play her club football outside of England for the first time. Photograph: Provided by Perth Glory.}}*

Wynne’s physios believe the first challenge caused the injury, which offers a little comfort. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing that it isn’t my own body just giving up on me,” she says, still trying to accept the severity of her setback. “Until I had the surgery, it hadn’t really sunk in that I’d done it again. Especially given how far I am into my career as well. The later it is, the harder it is to come back.”

With the rest of the Glory squad going away in the off-season, Wynne, now two months into her recovery, is having to battle it out alone. “The gym is a pretty lonely place when there’s no one around. You go from having 20-odd girls in the gym to just yourself, so it’s strange.”

The isolation is not limited to the gym either. Wynne explains: “When it first happens, you have tons of messages, everyone reaches out, and then you get three, four months down the line, and everyone forgets. That’s difficult, because then it’s you against yourself.

“I sometimes read the messages back now. I’m here on my own, and looking back at comments and messages is nice.”

Wynne remains positive and motivated in her rehabilitation, insisting that she is happy in her own company and can separate her life from the often lonely road to recovery.

Yet there remain moments of difficulty.

“All my family are in England and Wales and last week was especially tough. It was my little nephew’s birthday, it was my dad’s birthday, it was Father’s Day. All those little things where all the family are together are the times you really miss home,” Wynne explains. “I’ve got a nephew that’s a few months old now that I’ve never met. This whole off season, I was going to be at home and seeing everyone, but these are the things that can happen. It was tough going to Australia, but I’ve had a great experience and I wouldn’t change that.”

Having strong support, even when from a distance, has been invaluable for Wynne. Her parents were watching the game against City at 3am when she fell down injured. “Straight away, no hesitation, my mum flew out,” Wynne says. “I had two weeks before my operation and everyone was gone. There was no one to look after me. So she got on the first flight out and came for three weeks. She was there to look after me. That was nice because you always need your mum – no matter how old you are.”

*_{^{After completing her surgery, Wynne is on the long road to recovery and is desperate to return to football. Photograph: Provided by Megan Wynne.}}*

Wynne first injured her ACL when at Bristol City in August 2020. After Covid-19 saw the WSL season finish early, the Robins had narrowly avoided relegation on a points-per-game metric and were allowed to continue training amid strict lockdowns across the country. Weeks away from the start of the new season, another player landed awkwardly on Wynne’s leg and tore her ACL.

“I’m not going to say the recovery was easy, but it was pretty smooth sailing,” Wynne says. The forward, determined to make the squad for the final game of the WSL season, recovered in eight months, three weeks and five days.

Despite her relatively speedy recovery, Wynne is more cautious about her second return. “It’s just how long it takes to get through it. I feel like I’ve made such good progress, but how long have I still got to go? I’m not going to play a part in three quarters of the season, and this season hasn’t even started yet,” she says. “I think this time is going to be harder than the last time, not physically, because I know what to expect, but I think mentally. If you do it once, you can see it as a freak accident. To do it a second time, and it’s the other leg, you just never think it would have happened again.”

In the twilight of her career, such an extreme injury could have encouraged Wynne to stop playing. “It ran through my mind, but when I walked into my end of season meeting, Stephen [Peters, Glory’s head coach,] asked: ‘Is this it?’ I said: ‘No. Absolutely not.’

“I’m 32 and I’ll be 33 by the time I return, but I’m not going to let that stop me. I want to step back on that pitch, whether it be for one minute, 10 minutes or whatever. I’ll make sure I get back.”

Her previous hopes of a return to the Wales team remain, but Wynne regrets what feels like a final opportunity snatched away by injury. “It is little things like that and I now know that that chance is gone for however long, and realistically, is it going to happen again? I don’t know. There’s lots of things going through my mind in that sense,” she says.

_{^{Despite a strong season in Australia, Wynne fears her Welsh career could be over. Photograph: Provided by Perth Glory.}}

Even in the cruelest of circumstances, Wynne remains upbeat and will still cheer on her former team-mates and close friends at the European Championships. “There’s always a sense of what could have been, but I’ll still watch it with a sense of pride,” she says. “I did play a part, maybe not in this last campaign, but in the campaigns before when we were so close to qualifying. That group of players have been together for a long time. It’ll be tough, maybe for the first game, but I just want to see them do well. I’ll be more proud than upset.”

Wynne lights up as she tells of the feeling she had of scoring her first goal for Wales and clings on to the belief that she can live that sensation again. She admits that while it is “difficult” and “obviously a long, long way off”, she is determined to keep pushing for that next cap.

“I’ve got to just focus on getting back on the pitch and then if it happens, it happens,” she says. “I’ve loved my time with Wales. I’ve got 24 caps and if I’m able to get my 25th that would be nice, but I’m not gonna rest on that.”

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