Rotto attack victim fires up champion
Aspiring footballer Harry McCracken has emerged as a poster boy for everything champion WA boxer Danny Green is fighting in his war against one-punch violence.
McCracken feared losing vis-ion in his right eye in December when he was king hit with a vodka bottle after he and his friends were confronted by a group of youths at Rottnest Island.
Although not all of his sight has returned, the 19-year-old refused to have his dreams shattered and returned to the field this year to win the Claremont colts best-and-fairest award.
He has also nominated for the AFL draft on November 27.
McCracken said his year had turned out significantly better than he expected when he was diagnosed with two fractures to his eye socket and he had only 50 per cent vision in his right eye.
"It was all a bit of a shock when it first happened and didn't really sink in for a while . . . I didn't really even leave the house for about a month," he said.
"I couldn't do any contact training at the start of the pre-season but then my medical tests started showing some improvement and I noticed my hand-eye co-ordination was coming back and it kept getting better throughout the year.
"But it stays in the back of your mind, wondering if it could happen to one of your friends as well.
"So I'm pretty protective of them now, too. When you see it on the news and with deaths happening because of it, it really shocks me thinking I was in the same position."
The anger in Green's eyes rises noticeably as he hears McCracken tell his story.
Green said he would soon ramp up his campaign against what he describes as the "coward's punch" after last week receiving $200,000 in funding from the Federal Government.
"It makes me sick," Green said.
McCracken has a simple message to those potentially ruining their lives and that of others by one moment of madness: "Just think before you do it. It's a silly thing to do."
