Banner, 18, lined up for the Woodville-West Torrens reserves in round two and impressed with a long-range goal before bringing himself undone through his trademark lack of self-regard.
The gutsy Victorian copped an errant knee to the forehead while laying a tackle early in the second quarter.
Banner was immediately diagnosed with concussion, but a noticeable indentation above his right eyebrow proved a cause for concern.
“I wanted to keep playing, but the trainer told me to go off and have it checked out before I went back on the ground. I knew I’d hurt it, but it wasn’t too painful,” Banner told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“Once I went inside and sat down I started to deteriorate. It was easily the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through.”
Banner, who had only just recovered from a pre-season ankle sprain, was admitted to hospital where his expected one-week lay-off turned into a possible eight.
“I had X-rays first, which came back fine, but I was still throwing up, so the doctor suggested I have a CT scan,” Banner said.
“Right when I was about to leave the hospital they told me I had a small fracture in my forehead and the doctor said I could be out for six-eight weeks.
“My host mum called my mum back home in Victoria straight away and told her that I’d hurt my head and was in hospital.
“Later, mum told me she was ready to jump on a plane to Adelaide when she’d heard I’d been hurt, but I told her I was fine.”
Banner, still sporting an unmistakable dent in his forehead, was cleared to return to football five weeks later.
In typical fashion, he was more worried about the jibes from his teammates, who stirred him over his pronunciation over the word ‘dint’ (the commonly accepted term in South Australia is ‘dent’), than he was about copping another knock to his head.
“Everyone was stirring me saying I’d have to wear a helmet and I would’ve if I had to,” Banner said.
“The dint has filled back in a little bit, but the doctors told me that unless I have a piece of hip bone grafted in there I’ll have a dint there forever.
“Your forehead must swell up or the blood vessels expand or something when you exercise, because when I play a game or train really hard the dint actually gets bigger.”
Banner, who is mentored by veteran Josh Carr, is no stranger to big hits.
The avid Power supporter went out to play for the Werribee U18s as a 15-year-old.
He also spent two seasons with the Western Jets in the TAC Cup competition where he had his first run in with new coach Mark Williams.
“Choco came out to one of our finals last year and gave me a bit of a spray at three-quarter-time,” Banner said.
“He walked onto the ground and gave me a few honest words. I came out after that and kicked three in the last quarter and nearly won us the game - he still thinks that was because of him.
“I had another shot, which I missed, and he reminds me of that because he says it would’ve won us the game.”
