#5 Devon Smith

The simple answer is, NO, we haven’t and it seems, we don’t.

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Yeah whatever the ■■■■ is wrong with him clean it out 100% right now. I don’t care if he misses 12 weeks. Don’t want this to be an issue next season and the season after that.

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Agreed - and Tigers now keeping Cotchin out another 3 weeks.

Sounds like he keeps re-doing it as he ramps up his workloads during rehab.

Thinking out loud, should we just draw a line through the year for him, place him on the lti, and take two picks in the mid year draft

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Not uncommon to have a lesion or cyst in the knee. It is usually as a result of previous damage. The effects of these can vary from minimal discomfort in some movements, to significant pain and limited movement. I’d say given his performances, Smith’s probably would be towards the less severe end of the scale.

Not having a PCL in a sport like AFL is a major risk factor for additional damage inside the knee joint, as it allows excessive movement within that joint. The risk can be minimised to an extent through strength in the surrounding, supporting muscles. Have a look at Smith’s quads and especially VMO muscles, for example. But in the rigours of AFL, there is always a risk of the knee being torqued or moved beyond the extent where the surrounding muscles can support it.

PCL, like ACL, can be reconstructed - return to competitive sport is usually in the 9 month time frame.

I’d pull the pin on his season now, get the surgery out of the way so he can rehab and get as much of a pre-season as possible for 2020.

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The best teams have a system that is so solid that ever when they lose their best players they are still very competitive and rack up wins.

We don’t have any sort of system and we are losing our most important players to injury…this can only go well…

It’s a shame for Smith as he was showing greater intent and some of his old tackling efforts on Friday night. We have to get his knee issues sorted as best as we can to get him back to his best. Even a “near enough to 2018 Smith” will make a big difference to the side.

WHO TOOK DEV’S PCL?

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Watch us do that and re-draft Jerrett

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AFL HQ

Yep. 8 weeks is what I’m hearing.

Disappointing, but now as some have been saying, it’s time to play some kids.

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Goes without saying, really.

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DEVON!!!

GET TO SURGERY!!

Pack up for the year and focus solely on getting everyone cherry ripe for round 1 next year.

It’s time to slice up Devon

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Don’t you mean round 9?

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No because this year it was round 3, so next year it is round 1.

But it’s only JLT remember

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Was it round 3, are we sure if that yet

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