IT WASN'T the news anyone at Hawthorn wanted to hear, but watching Jarryd Roughead courageously face up to his health battle inspired his teammate Luke Breust.
Roughead called a meeting at Waverley on Tuesday to deliver the shattering news that his melanoma had returned, with the development coming as a complete shock to his teammates.
"It was pretty tough," Breust told AFL.com.au.
"We trained Tuesday morning and obviously had no idea about it and then had a meeting after training.
"To walk into that meeting and see him standing at the front, to be honest I thought maybe he had a hiccup with his knee and he's going to take a bit longer than expected.
"For him to say what he said and the bravery he showed to get through it all and be committed to tell his teammates he was going to be fine and fight through it, it was pretty inspirational from my point of view."
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Roughead will now miss the rest of the season as he battles melanoma, which sidelined him for two games last year after he had a melanoma removed from his lip.
The star forward was only weeks away from playing for the first time this season after working his way back from a posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
Despite the flattening news, Breust didn't think his team's performance in the 14-point loss to the Sydney Swans was affected by Roughead's health issues and he marveled at the 29-year-old's resilience.
"If anything, it was an inspiration. He was at the club Thursday, he was in our forward line meeting giving advice about what their defenders do well and how you can maybe expose them," Breust said.
"He was around the club doing a weights session. To see a guy who's just got that kind of news and to be doing that, it wasn't a burden or anything at all."
Roughead was in the Hawks' rooms with his teammates pre-match and watched Friday night's clash from the coach's box.
Speaking after the loss to the Swans at the MCG, coach Alastair Clarkson praised the club for its handling of "a pretty difficult situation" and hoped Roughead would soon be left to deal with his health battle away from the spotlight.
"The sooner the hysteria goes out of this battle that he's got to confront, the better it will be for Roughy, Sarah and his whole family," Clarkson said.
"This is a significant illness that he's got to confront, but it's not an illness that anyone of us in this room, wider football world and wider community have to confront from time to time.
"We're going to deal with it in the best manner we can as a footy club with a lot of support from his teammates, in particular, but also his family and those back at home in Leongatha.
"We'll roll the sleeves up and get to work on what he needs to do to get treatment and get himself right."
