The skipper has ruled himself out for the remainder of the home-and-away season and will be relying on his body to heal itself in time for the club’s finals campaign.
“It’s impossible for anyone to accurately estimate how long I will be out for,” Maxwell told Collingwoodfc.com.au on Wednesday.
“I had a broken leg four years ago and was told I would be out for 12 weeks. I was back playing after six.
“I am not going to play in the home-and-away season. As after that, I am not going to put a number of games on how many I will miss.”
Maxwell injured his thumb in the final term and didn’t realise it was a serious injury until speaking with club doctors after the match.
“I went to lay a tackle in the start of the last quarter and I thought I dislocated my thumb. Due to the adrenaline I didn’t feel anything.
“After the game I was more worried about a cramp in my groin.
“I went to see the doctor just in case because the thumb was swelling up quickly and he diagnosed it straight away that it was broken.”
Maxwell underwent surgery to realign his splintered bones in his injured hand on Sunday night and was back training at the club today.
“I had scans Saturday and it confirmed there were breaks which were displaced.
“I had the surgery on Sunday night and it went well.
“I want to be back playing as soon as possible. As of next week I will be doing full training but won’t be able to touch the ball.”
The 27-year-old has already thrown himself into training, completing a 10-kilometre bike ride under the watchful eye of sports science director David Buttifant.
“It won’t be a fitness issue that will affect my return but more about my touch and where my hand is at.”
