Injury ACL epidemic- Is it time to seriously question the club's approach?

[_GT_]

There are a few in the media beginning to question the Giants high ACL injury toll. We can add last couple of years with ankle injuries too. I now wonder myself what is going on. This looks like more than bad luck to me. Are grounds in Sydney hold too much friction and causing players to stop too quickly? Are we failin to provide enough strength and balance conditioning? Given how early the ACLs seem to happen, are we fatiguing our younger players too early in their careers through preseason (in a rush to get them up to AFL standards)?

Went looking for an older article from when the AFL had a bit of general problem with it. This article is a good one.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/call-for-change-to-afl-training-to-avoid-acls/4711302

So, is it time we start putting the acid on the club? Should the club be undertaking a full review of internal programs and external sources of risk i.e. grounds?

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

Are grounds in Sydney hold too much friction and causing players to stop too quickly?

Well Jonny P did one ACL at Manuka and the other at the MCG; Kenners did his at Etihad. Nobody knows when Bunts did his because he went in for scans on something else and they found the tear then. So it’s not Sydney grounds I wouldn’t have thought.

And a couple of the ankles last year were as a result of opposition players stepping on them, or our boys kicking the legs of others in the act of getting it out of congestion - so it had nothing to do with the ground at all.

How do other clubs compare in terms of number/frequency etc. of ACLs?

 

[_GT_]

Well Jonny P did one ACL at Manuka and the other at the MCG; Kenners did his at Etihad. Nobody knows when Bunts did his because he went in for scans on something else and they found the tear then. So it’s not Sydney grounds I wouldn’t have thought.

And a couple of the ankles last year were as a result of opposition players stepping on them, or our boys kicking the legs of others in the act of getting it out of congestion - so it had nothing to do with the ground at all.

How do other clubs compare in terms of number/frequency etc. of ACLs?

I think we are very much an outlier at the moment.

 

[NT.Thunder]

I'm in the s**t luck is all it is camp.........Giant's have been rocked by injuries and not just ACL's but these are always the ones we really remember. I'd be interested to see any numbers for ACL's across grounds and stand corrected but gut says we are better off getting rid of all the black cats and ladders first around the club.

 

[Determinant]

I asked Mummy about it today and highlighted our history, he believes it's bad luck also.

 

[Danny88]

Well Jonny P did one ACL at Manuka and the other at the MCG; Kenners did his at Etihad. Nobody knows when Bunts did his because he went in for scans on something else and they found the tear then. So it’s not Sydney grounds I wouldn’t have thought.

And a couple of the ankles last year were as a result of opposition players stepping on them, or our boys kicking the legs of others in the act of getting it out of congestion - so it had nothing to do with the ground at all.

How do other clubs compare in terms of number/frequency etc. of ACLs?

This is just a great response to the question. Saved me a lot of time looking this up