The Mindset Behind One of AFL's Most Remarkable Recoveries Jason McCartney

October 12, 2002. AFL star Jason McCartney was on holiday in Bali. By the end of that night, 202 people were dead, and he had burns to 50% of his body. Most people with his injuries spend 3-4 months just getting out of hospital. Jason was back on the football field in 5 months. What got him there was not superhuman toughness. It was a specific set of skills, built through years of setbacks, that clicked into gear when everything was on the line. Skills that translate far beyond sport. 1:05 A career built on resilience before Bali even happened 6:15 Nearly walking away from football...and what brought him back 14:50 That night in Bali: what he remembers 20:25 Goal-setting from intensive care 27:20 The decision to return and play one last game 32:40 What he pushed through in training that he never told anyone 39:20 Doing the psychological work: compartmentalisation, exposure therapy, and why talking about it healed him 48:25 Building elite culture at GWS and what leaders get wrong about performance

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The Mindset Behind One of AFL's Most Remarkable Recoveries Jason McCartney is an episode from Performance Intelligence with Andrew May by Andrew May.

This episode is 60:25 long.

This episode was published on Apr 22, 2026.

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