Three setbacks, 11 long months - the Hearts 'new signing' desperate to make an impact for new boss

Injury came at the cruellest of times for Hearts’ Australian midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof last March.

The 23-year-old had become a key player for then head coach Steven Naismith, with Hearts running away with third place in the Premiership. In his first season in Scottish football, Nieuwenhof’s form was so good that he was being touted with a call-up to the Socceroos squad and a potential appearance at the Paris Olympics.

A 79th-minute hamstring injury on March 3, 2024 against Celtic put paid to all of that. Nobody then expected the former Western Sydney Wanderers man to miss 11 months of action, suffering three relapses of a tendon injury that ultimately required surgery and patience to heal.

Calem Nieuwenhof is all smiles again now he is fit for Hearts. | SNS Group

Should Nieuwenhof feature on Monday night in Hearts’ last 16 Scottish Cup clash away at St Mirren on Monday night, it will be a milestone moment for a man who has yet to feature under his new boss Neil Critchley.

“I'd say about three setbacks,” explained Nieuwenhof as he detailed his struggles. “And obviously with hamstrings, it's just so tough because sort of the recurrence rate is really high. And all it takes is one small thing to go astray and that can be a significant amount of time set back.”

The stop-start nature of his recovery was hard for the Australia Under-23 internationalist to take. “If I had to point to a particular point, I'd probably say one of the sort of times where I had a recurrence of my injury,” he said of the dark times. “Because you go through the whole rehab process and you feel like you're getting close to being back playing. And then you might just feel something small.

“And then that can be another substantial amount of time out. So probably one of the moments that was probably the toughest was finding out when I'd re-niggled my hamstring because that was so frustrating. Because I felt like I was really getting close to being back involved and then to be set back out.

“The support from both the staff here and the players ... yeah, it couldn't have been any better. So I'm thankful for that.”

Calem Nieuwenhof picked up his Hearts injury against Celtic. | SNS Group

The original prognosis for Nieuwenhof was that he would miss a maximum of three months. “You don't really feel like a footballer after that amount of time,” he said. “You can't wait to get back on the pitch and I'm lucky that I'm back now and I'm just loving playing again and I can't wait to compete.”

Much has changed since Nieuwenhof last played for Hearts - not least the man in the dugout. Naismith was replaced by Critchley in October and the Australian says he is treating himself like a new signing for his gaffer. “Because I’ve never played for him before, I feel a bit that way,” he smiled. “I do feel like a bit of a new signing coming in at the moment, which is funny because I've been her a year and a half now. I just can't wait to get back on the pitch in front of the fans again.”