View Full Version : Injury riddled youngsters -bad luck or bad mgt?
What is going on with our current group of youngsters. From the last two drafts we have only 3 players of the 10 we drafted currently available for selection.
2006
Gumbleton - Inj
Hislop - Inj
Jetta - Fit
Davey - Inj
Houli - Inj
Reimers - Fit
2007
Myers - Inj
Pears - Inj
Daniher - Inj
Hooker - Fit
Add to this the problems from 2005 (Ryder, Neagle, Demspey Lonergan) where Ryder is the only one who has not been injury prone you have to wonder what is going on. Are they being overtrained?? Do other clubs have similar problems with their young players?l
Big Scottknowsall
15 Jul 2008, 12:33
I'm sick of this type of discussion. All clubs go through it.
We have several exceptions, as do all clubs.....
Young bodies being tested to see what their current capacity is; injuries will occur and it's part of the game.....if they don't train hard they wont be up to the rigours, and sometimes, if they train too hard, they'll break down....
Look at Stanton, Ryder & Reimers as positives, and exceptions, not the expected norm.
Pevers-Legend
15 Jul 2008, 12:42
AFL is a very different comp to what it was 5 years ago as is TAC / U18 - young players are expected to be super athletes too early - some of their bodies can not cope - this will be common from now on for all clubs.
Phat Toni
15 Jul 2008, 13:18
I'm sick of this type of discussion. All clubs go through it.
We have several exceptions, as do all clubs.....
Young bodies being tested to see what their current capacity is; injuries will occur and it's part of the game.....if they don't train hard they wont be up to the rigours, and sometimes, if they train too hard, they'll break down....
Look at Stanton, Ryder & Reimers as positives, and exceptions, not the expected norm.
Partly agree with your argument in that young players get pushed very hard these days. However I just had a look through the injury list from all clubs on the HeraldSun site(not updated from last week however) and it looks to me like we have the most young players sidelined and a lot of ours have been like that for most of the year(Gumby, Lee, Dempsey, Hocking, Davey to a lesser extend Houli he has been out for a while now). So I do wonder, our list/injury management has come under scrutiny already this year so maybe it's not up to scratch.
Big Scottknowsall
15 Jul 2008, 13:54
Partly agree with your argument in that young players get pushed very hard these days. However I just had a look through the injury list from all clubs on the HeraldSun site(not updated from last week however) and it looks to me like we have the most young players sidelined and a lot of ours have been like that for most of the year(Gumby, Lee, Dempsey, Hocking, Davey to a lesser extend Houli he has been out for a while now). So I do wonder, our list/injury management has come under scrutiny already this year so maybe it's not up to scratch.
Dempsey and Lee are the only chronic ones there. I'm comfortable with that..
Also, we are probvably pushing our kids more because of that glaring, deep, dark whole of 22-26 year olds running around....we, unfortunately, need the input of several kids to be competitivie at the moment and we have been forced, somewhat, to "test" the kids....
Still comes down to bad luck for mine. I'm pretty happy with the fact we got to see every first year player play last season - that is extraordinary! And kudos to the fitness satff for mine....
Getting to the end of the year and Myers, Houli types are floundering a little - to be expected if we are going to play them in the league team...
Little Birdy
15 Jul 2008, 15:59
All these kids were told when they came to the Club that they could expect a series of minor injuries to occur for the first couple of years until their bodies adapted to the rigours of AFL football.
Give them that time and you'll find the majority of their problems will disappear as they get a couple of seasons and importantly pre-seasons under their belt.
Ben the Gooner
15 Jul 2008, 16:30
It's one thing to have stopped growing upwards by the time you reach an AFL club, but to have filled out as well, by 18, is very rare. Give them until they're 20-23 before we start to call them injury prone.
Ben the Gooner
15 Jul 2008, 16:36
2006
Gumbleton - Inj Impact Injury
Hislop - Inj Stress Injury
Jetta - Fit
Davey - Inj Impact
Houli - Inj Stress
Reimers - Fit
2007
Myers - Inj Stress
Pears - Inj ? Hip could be either
Daniher - Inj Stress
Hooker - Fit
If you look at it that way the numbers aren't as bad. Impact injuries are unavoidable, and could happen to anyone. So for 4/5 out of ten to be injured due to weaker bodies, when the youngsters are being pushed so hard is not too bad.