Come on…I’m on the verge of my trauma payment for saad.
Yeah found it strange Saad wasn’t mentioned on the injury report. Will certainly miss this week and likely the next week too given a six day break. Will be 50/50 the following week too I’m told.
Initial temptation would be to switch McGrath back to defence. Lucky we have guys like Fanta and Zaka coming back (or close) so we can bolster the midfield while McGrath is back.
But i’d be more inclined to try Guelfi back there now and if he struggles switch to McGrath
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He was. Said he had a cramp and they took the conservative approach. Turns out that was bullshit, as are most injury reports from pretty much every club.
At least the BS which minimised the injury wasn’t followed through by letting Saad back on the field too early, only to be injured more severely a la Laverde.
Don’t mind the BS as long as the management is okay.
That’s what I meant. Saying he was fine when he went for scans after being sore for a few days is clearly not fine. Same as Fantasia after the port match, hardly a mention but missed 4-5 weeks which in real terms is a significant injury given its 25% of the season. I’ve been flamed in other threads for commenting on injury this season but I feel there’s certainly something NQR about our medical this season, be it diagnosis, treatment and/or reporting. Colyer, Daniher, Fantasia are just the beginning of the list. Very strange IMO.
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Scan was yesterday, after the injury report was done. clearly not letting on how saw he was but to not mention a scan that hadn’t happened is hardly an issue.
I’m not sure I call it NQR, but clearly the club is keeping a tight leash on the reporting of “non obvious” injuries to certain players. ie: if a bloke isn’t stretchered off, we’re not saying much about what injury they may or may not have. After the GWS game Worsfold was saying we had a clean bill of health while Redman was captured hobbling around the rooms on crutches and an iced ankle.
They’re just bullshitting publicly. Everyone does it. Dustin Martin could have his leg amputated and Neil Balme would still say he’s 2-3 weeks away.
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Damn it!
If we were going to play 3 smaller defenders may have to move McGrath back as I’m not sure we have anybody else in 2’s to come in for Saad.
Zaka with a timely return into McGrath’s spot.
Then just out of Colyer/Long for Raz’s return.
I heard it was a hamstring virus
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It was a knock to the virus.
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Do you believe they only thought a scan was necessary yesterday? I don’t. He was sore up until Tuesday (From Sunday morning after a sat night match) clearly that’s not a cramp. As someone said earlier, most probably don’t care about the BS front as long as the back of house operation is ok, I think that’s most important but waiting until Wednesday for a scan?
If the scan has come back as inconclusive that to me would be a sign that problem was hard to diagnose. Perhaps on that basis you might order it sooner but equally I can see why they might give him the extra day if he’s attesting to it not being serious.
Damn this medical science for being “inconclusive “.
Blitz demands absolutes.
How can we blame / praise someone inconclusively?
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Collingwood are in the same boat.
It seems their (and our) medical staff have no ability to assess players without imaging which is both puzzling and troubling unless there’s been some new development in the sports medicine world that hasn’t seen the light of a journal.
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I had an interesting chat with a former Hawthorn FC physio. He described the confusion the industry had regarding hamstring strain re-occurrences in the time before scans. The only option they had was ultrasound and that didn’t penetrate enough to get a look at the ligament damage. There was no outward signs of any major issue, so they’d do the normal rehab, put the player out a few weeks later and they’d do it again. Rehab a few more weeks and then it would go a third time. It was only with the introduction of modern medical imaging that they could diagnose ligament damage that needed surgery.
I suspect that’s why there’s such a reliance on scans, you can’t always pick a major issue by normal means.
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Do ANY of you guys still listen to the Coodabeens ?
It’s now referred to as ‘hamstring awareness’
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It’s a far cry from a guy who just feels a little “tight” in their hamstring and someone who needs surgery on a ligament.
Not to mention an increasing amount of evidence that scans aren’t the best indicator of someone’s pain or dysfunction anyway ie people without pain or dysfunction often display “damaged” tissue on imaging.
We’ve also had MRI for decades (5 in total; unsure when they became readily available in Australia), and have certainly gone through periods since then when players have had recurring issues eg Adelaide this year.
I know this has been posted twice already, but maybe these injury reports should go in this thread.
Dons skipper, pacy defender racing the R1 clock
Essendon skipper Dyson Heppell averaged 27 disposals last season
ESSENDON expects captain Dyson Heppell and running backman Conor McKenna to be available for the start of the season despite the pair nursing nagging injuries.
Heppell walked laps at training on Wednesday and watched as teammates took part in match simulation drills as he deals with hamstring tendinitis.
Coach John Worsfold said the Bombers are managing the 26-year-old to ensure he is fit and available to face Greater Western Sydney in round one.
“[Heppell has] a bit of tendinitis in his hamstring. It’s just like, [we will] rest him so you knock it on the head straight away so it doesn’t linger,” Worsfold told AFL.com.au .
McKenna has spent more time away from the main group during the Bombers’ summer, battling a groin issue that flared up towards the end of last season.
The lightning-quick defender has been regularly spotted running laps in the rehabilitation group, and has only recently rejoined main drills as the club builds his conditioning.
“He’s had a sore groin. He was on a reduced program and I think he’d been carrying a bit of groin soreness, and that didn’t resolve when he had his break,” Worsfold said.
"When he started running again it was sore. As he’s kept building up they haven’t shaken it, but he’s back starting to join in some drills now.
“He’s getting a lot of volume in so I think he’ll be right.”
The Bombers are being cautious with key players Zach Merrett (ankle) and Cale Hooker (hamstring) but both are not at risk of missing the start of the season.
However, the wait looks set to continue for rebounding defender Martin Gleeson, who is still yet to resume full training nearly 12 months after he went down with a serious ankle injury in last year’s JLT Community Series.
Gleeson played 60 games between 2015 and 2017 and become a staple of Essendon’s defence, but has yet to find the same range in his ankle to return to the main group.
“It was a horrific injury. The way he landed and what he did to that ankle was terrible. It’s a bad injury, so [we’re tying] to get his ankle back to be able to flex to the full level,” he said.
"No doubt Marty’s been frustrated that he hasn’t been able to just do footy training yet, but he’s pretty fit. The focus is getting his ankle as good as it can be so he’s got a lot of footy to play in his career.
“I have no idea [on a timeline for his return].”
The main focus at Essendon from a fitness perspective remains on star goalkicker Joe Daniher, who took part in the club’s short match simulation training on Wednesday.
Worsfold was able to mould a forward group together last year in Daniher’s absence that scored well, with the likes of Shaun McKernan and Mitch Brown offering marking targets and Jake Stringer spending more time closer to goal.
The coach said he was pleased with Daniher’s progress and optimistic he would be fit to face the Giants.
“I’m not sweating on how he’s tracking today or saying ‘Is he on track?’ My guess is that he’s a fair chance he’ll be right for round one,” Worsfold said.
"He’s following a program and he won’t play until he’s ticked every box. If he has a setback and misses one day, that could mean that come selection day for round one he hasn’t ticked that box and we won’t pick him.
"The fact that he hasn’t done a full training session yet means it’ll be tight, but his running volume was bigger than the rest of the squad’s last week.
“He’s getting the volume of training in, so [when he gets back] it’s really just going to be his touch and his footy nous getting that back to an elite level.”
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AFL in Media Power Grab
The Dons Skipper / McKenna article is not yet on the club website. Nor is any Injury report on the club website.
Now we see the ramifications of being forced to hand control of the clubs website to the AFL
Its pretty clear the AFL is trying to induce our fans to go to the AFL website first for important news. AFL will increase clicks at the expense of our website and thus direct revenue away from us to them.
( string of expletives deleted)
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Hi Nino!
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