WNBL: Canberra Capitals' Gemma Potter embraces rough road to recovery after ACL, MCL injury

Potter was familiar with the "pop" of a ruptured ACL, having suffered one on her other leg 18 months ago.

So when she went down during the Capitals' season-opener last Friday, and screamed as she hit the floor, it wasn't a mystery to Potter what had happened.

"I knew as soon as I landed. The pain is excruciating," she told The Canberra Times.

"You hear or feel the pop and you know something's not right.

"You don't forget that feeling, and I knew it all too well."

Potter recalled looking up at teammate and close friend Jade Melbourne from the floor.

Melbourne had been there when Potter last ruptured her ACL at the Under-20 National Championships in Mackay, and supported her friend through the long rehabilitation journey that followed.

"I looked her in the eyes and said, 'Jade I can't do it'," Potter, who also strained her MCL against Bendigo, said.

"Jade was so big for me in that last process coming back, so I probably couldn't ask for anyone better to be there in that moment, as weird as it sounds.

"She didn't say anything. She looked at me and I just knew that she had my back."

Potter had her worst fears confirmed after scans on the weekend. She's endured a painful week of discomfort ahead of her surgery in Victoria this week as her teammates prepare for a trip west to face the also-winless Perth Lynx.

Stocked up on anti-inflammatory medication and strong pain killers, Potter revealed that the first night after suffering the injury her knee "blew up" and she only slept three hours.

It's since improved, but the instability and lack of strength is a humbling experience.

"I'm alright, I'm starting to face reality," she said.

"It's not like breaking your wrist or something - you don't trust your body to even put weight on it, and you lose all the strength.

"I had to get my mum to help get my leg up onto the bed."

While the pain will subside, Potter's drive to come back bigger and better is growing every day, and it also helps that she is bringing a glass half-full approach to the heartbreaking setback.

She even called it "a blessing in disguise".

"The work that I've done on my left knee is good, and I know it works," she said.

"So I'm glad it happened to the other side and the way it did - through contact and landing - it was just my body just giving up on me.

"It would have happened no matter what."

Last time she did her ACL, Potter also faced several hours on a plane with stopovers from north Queensland to Melbourne for her surgery.

This time around, it'll be a 45-minute plane ride, an operation by the same surgeon she had the first time, and then rest and recovery at home with family before heading back to Canberra to jump-start her rehab among teammates.

"I love this group so I can't stay away for too long," Potter said.

"This time will be a bit different just because of the MCL damage which I didn't have before.

"In the gym is where I can put the most work in though, with my upper body and other leg.

"I want to get around the team as much as possible.

"When I start training and getting back into the swing of it, they're going to be my biggest supporters."

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