The condition he has is in regards to his patella and that in turn causes issues with swelling and inflammation, pain & discomfort but isn’t a concrete condition. It can be almost on a scale or % of how bad it is depending on the time of the week and how it is pulling up, it’s weird.All good mate - I'm sure we can both agree that we hope gets a good run finally with his injuries.
After all the reports that this is a chronic condition ( I forget who posted that) it makes you wonder just how often he played when he was actually very sore?
Get him pain free and he'd smash through his season high goal tally of 37 from 15 games in 2022.
I agree 100% on his value so I wonder what else there is to try to get him playing a full season?
Cyril went to an expert (in Saudi?) to change his running style to protect him from the soft-tissue injuries ,and that certainly worked.
I was just reading a few sites about running style modification and with the right one, it has been proven to protect knees and muscles to a significant degree in some athletes.
69 games since debut in 2002 probably tells the story of just how impacting his injuries have become. Gotta be worth looking at at least, if surgery isn't an option.
Respect your opinion, but I still don't think that flying a 6ft 6in, 100+ kg guy for 4 hours in a cramped seat after half a game of VFL footy is the way I'd approach it, especially as Sam can choose from Chol, Dear, Gunston and Skaife as tall forwards!
As you say, he's too valuable, and that's why I'd give it another week.
Did you think Skaife has done enough to warrant an AFL debut?
Although in Mitch’s case he would’ve been playing through it as it would’ve been good enough, but as it progressed with his hamstring it would’ve gotten worse. But that isn’t to say he didn’t play injured, which he definitely did.
The main thing is it isn’t as simple as fix the issue, that issue was so difficult to handle over the period he was out and was very inconsistent. It seems now that it’s settled down and there’s been no structural damage.
He would absolutely kick 50+ if fit. He is valuable but if he’s deemed fit which he is now, he’ll play AFL.
Knees are an absolute pain in the behind, the most important part of the body and probably the weakest.
I’m sure players who are taller get more leg room when they fly and between his last VFL game and west coast itll be 2 extra weeks of training.
I think he’s too valuable if fit to play VFL footy.
Scaife if chosen would definitely be a good option, I love the look of him.
He kicked 3 in the first half and his attributes put him in good stead as not just a FF or CHF but can play the roaming third tall. Strong aerially and at ground level, can ruck, good field kick and kick for goal and his main focus point would come under continuity and consistency, then obviously with more game-time, his improvement areas would become more clear.