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Retired North Melbourne champion Jack Ziebell says he will still require more surgery to his face next year after he was allegedly assaulted outside a Melbourne pub in August.
- Former North skipper Jack Ziebell was allegedly assaulted outside a Melbourne pub on the night of his final AFL match
- Two men were arrested after the incident, with a 21-year-old charged with affray, intentionally cause injury, and assault by kicking
- Ziebell said it is likely he will need more surgery on his nose next year due to the lingering effects of the incident
Ziebell had been celebrating his retirement in South Yarra when he was allegedly set upon in an unprovoked attack, with police saying the 32-year-old was punched in the face, causing him to fall onto the road, before being kicked while on the ground.
Two men were arrested the next day in relation to the incident.
"I was very fortunate. I'm lucky I'm here, I'm with us and fortunately I've healed up and I will make a full recovery and be back to myself," Ziebell told ABC Grandstand.
"I'm lucky in that aspect. And a lot of people don't have that opportunity."
Ziebell spent the night in hospital after the incident, with images the next day showing the former skipper heavily bandaged on his nose and upper lip.
Loading..."I had surgery to fix up my nose after it happened, but then I'll probably need to go back in another eight months to get it done again," he said.
"So some lingering effects, which is not great."
Ziebell, who has been working with North Melbourne's AFLW side in retirement, said the incident had made him less inclined to go out to social events, and that it had been a distressing event for his wife and his kids.
"I didn't realise how common this sort of thing was in society, but the amount of people that since the incident occurred have reached out to me and told stories of similar things happening to family or friends or themselves has been almost overwhelming," he said.
"It's crap, like it needs to stop in society. And I'll probably look in the future to do some work with some people and some charities in this space because obviously being affected by it, I can see how it I can turn really bad, really, really quick."
ABC
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