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News Ben Serpell

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Geez we’ve become such a weak club.
It seems we’re more concerned about stability and hurting peoples feelings than making the tough calls when they need to be made. But let’s just extend everyone’s contract when totally unnecessary. Weak leadership is going to set us back years.
dont worry, they have drag queens at aflw games now
 
Contact injuries notwithstanding, here are some of the questions I have for the strength and conditioning team…

Why was Sam Lalor played against Essendon last year when he was quite obviously sore?

How the hell do the medical staff not know Tom Sims has a navicular injury until he’s on the sidelines with an unrelated arm injury? And the same for Mansell.

Why were both Judson Clarke and Josh Gibcus put back on the field after complaining of a sore knee when they have had a history of knee injuries?

Why has Tom Sims not put on any size since October when he’s been out of action?

How can Smillie continually reinjure his quad? They obviously have no idea what is wrong and haven’t got external expert opinions to consider.

What have they been doing to ensure Hotton will come back 100%? They admitted the injury was unusual so what is the plan from what they have learnt?

Why didn’t Sam Cumming get shoulder surgery when he arrived at the club? They admitted that they were bewildered his junior club didn’t put him in for surgery yet refused to do it themselves
Lalor v Bombers - all players are sore. It’s more how he felt in the 1-2 days prior to the game. If he’s still hobbling by the Friday he shouldn’t play Saturday

Sims navicular- unless Sims reported foot soreness how is the doc or Serpell meant to know he has sore feet? By the sequence of events he clearly hadn’t mentioned it until he went into hospital for his wrists. Mansell same…did he raise feet issues? Most likely not.

Juddy and Gibcus certainly strange

Sims getting jacked…S&C don’t want big jacked footballers, they want running machines.

Hotton, just because we don’t know the exact plan, doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Cumming - surgery should always be the last option. By the way he played on Friday the non surgical approach seems to have been the right way to go.
 
Lalor v Bombers - all players are sore. It’s more how he felt in the 1-2 days prior to the game. If he’s still hobbling by the Friday he shouldn’t play Saturday

Sims navicular- unless Sims reported foot soreness how is the doc or Serpell meant to know he has sore feet? By the sequence of events he clearly hadn’t mentioned it until he went into hospital for his wrists. Mansell same…did he raise feet issues? Most likely not.

Juddy and Gibcus certainly strange

Sims getting jacked…S&C don’t want big jacked footballers, they want running machines.

Hotton, just because we don’t know the exact plan, doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Cumming - surgery should always be the last option. By the way he played on Friday the non surgical approach seems to have been the right way to go.
Lalor vs Bombers - he was obviously sore. Played out of the goal square before he got injured. MC knew this and planned for it. Resulted in injury rather than resting it like they should’ve.

Sims and Mansell foot injuries- why shouldn’t they know about these? If not there’s a real breakdown in communication between players and medial staff, and it’s on the staff to be on top of this.

Sims - nobody said he should be jacked. But he’s going to be either a big tall forward or a ruck and these guys need mass to crash and bash. He’s a twig now, why haven’t they at the very least put him on the Harry Armstrong conditioning program? Baffling.

Cumming - the club said they were surprised his junior club didn’t put him in for surgery. It’s likely they knew all along he needed this but avoided it and he injured his shoulder in the pre season, like they knew probably could be the case.

The above is almost as diabolical as putting 2 players with knee injuries back on the field after they complain of soreness, then put their hands in the air when they do their acl shortly after.

They may try their best but on the above I reckon most Bigfooty pundits would have made better calls than our medical team.
 

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We have no standards no other club would accept this many injuries, Serpell has to be sacked at the end of the season.
they should be doing their due diligence right now looking for a replacement and this time a big name with a proven track record.
IMO replacing Serpell etc. before replacing the guys that hired him is a mistake. It's not like they didn't do their due diligence after the catastrophic 2024 year, this is the best they can do.
 
IMO replacing Serpell etc. before replacing the guys that hired him is a mistake. It's not like they didn't do their due diligence after the catastrophic 2024 year, this is the best they can do.
Serpell wasn't even the main guy at Geelong...
 
I've been saying for a long time this guy is out of his depth.

He's never been in this lead position and Geelong had an opening and chose not to promote him. He has to go before the damage is irreparable.
 
dont worry, they have drag queens at aflw games now
I'm not worried, as we have them in the AFL playing, or are they drama queens? Oh well, much the same.
 
Why is he the scapegoat, as he's only a fitness coach, just like Meehan was? It's the whole medical group that's the problem.
  • Medical Staff (Doctors/Physios): Responsible for diagnosing injuries, treating acute injuries during training/matches, providing medical clearance, and long-term injury rehabilitation.
  • Fitness Staff (Strength & Conditioning/High Performance): Responsible for physical preparation, strength training, monitoring workloads, speed development, and returning players to match fitness.
Key Distinctions in Roles:
  • Medical Oversight: Club doctors and physiotherapists handle clinical issues and have final say on whether a player is medically fit to play.
  • Performance Optimization: Strength and conditioning coaches manage the "body armor" of players, aiming to maximize physical performance and endurance.
  • Rehabilitation: While fitness staff manage the return-to-running, medical staff manage the healing and clinical milestones.
  • So once fitness staff get the all clear, they try to get them ready, but they aren't aware of what's inside their bodies, as that's the medical staff's job. You can say that, but their job is to get them ready again, yes. But they do not know the issues, as they are not doctors. During the game, players say, "I feel something wrong with my knee." They don't go to the fitness staff, do they?
 
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Why is he the scapegoat, as he's only a fitness coach, just like Meehan was? It's the whole medical group that's the problem.
  • Medical Staff (Doctors/Physios): Responsible for diagnosing injuries, treating acute injuries during training/matches, providing medical clearance, and long-term injury rehabilitation.
  • Fitness Staff (Strength & Conditioning/High Performance): Responsible for physical preparation, strength training, monitoring workloads, speed development, and returning players to match fitness.
Key Distinctions in Roles:
  • Medical Oversight: Club doctors and physiotherapists handle clinical issues and have final say on whether a player is medically fit to play.
  • Performance Optimization: Strength and conditioning coaches manage the "body armor" of players, aiming to maximize physical performance and endurance.
  • Rehabilitation: While fitness staff manage the return-to-running, medical staff manage the healing and clinical milestones.
  • So once fitness staff get the all clear, they try to get them ready, but they aren't aware of what's inside their bodies, as that's the medical staff's job. You can say that, but their job is to get them ready again, yes. But they do not know the issues, as they are not doctors. During the game, players say, "I feel something wrong with my knee." They don't go to the fitness staff, do they?
They need to go through the lot of them
Agree its the medical staff first .
 
Hawks barely have had an injury last few years since Sam Mitchell bought Peter Burge from us

we should infinite to get him back
That ship has sailed , to the flowersniffers that said it’s just bad luck , how’s that going for you , soft tissue and overuse injuries everywhere
 

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That ship has sailed , to the flowersniffers that said it’s just bad luck , how’s that going for you , soft tissue and overuse injuries everywhere
They are hiding away mate. I remember a member calling yourself and me out a couple weeks ago - forgot the name - haven't heard much of any of them defending him this week.

Hotton "bad luck", sims "bad luck"

seriously...
whole department needs a review.
 
They are hiding away mate. I remember a member calling yourself and me out a couple weeks ago - forgot the name - haven't heard much of any of them defending him this week.

Hotton "bad luck", sims "bad luck"

seriously...
whole department needs a review.
A couple have me blocked , thats weak as piss if you ask me
 
We have no standards no other club would accept this many injuries, Serpell has to be sacked at the end of the season.
they should be doing their due diligence right now looking for a replacement and this time a big name with a proven track record.
he needs to be sacked right now, not end of season

the carnage needs to stop now, today
 
Get rid of him asap.

1/3 of the entire playing list in the medical room, with half of those as TBC.

Pack your bags Ben - whatever you're doing isn't working.

We have seen star players leave football clubs due to injury mismanagement (Daniher, Oscar Allen etc...)

If changes aren't made here we too will see a few trade requests at years end, no doubt.
 

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Why is he the scapegoat, as he's only a fitness coach, just like Meehan was? It's the whole medical group that's the problem.
  • Medical Staff (Doctors/Physios): Responsible for diagnosing injuries, treating acute injuries during training/matches, providing medical clearance, and long-term injury rehabilitation.
  • Fitness Staff (Strength & Conditioning/High Performance): Responsible for physical preparation, strength training, monitoring workloads, speed development, and returning players to match fitness.
Key Distinctions in Roles:
  • Medical Oversight: Club doctors and physiotherapists handle clinical issues and have final say on whether a player is medically fit to play.
  • Performance Optimization: Strength and conditioning coaches manage the "body armor" of players, aiming to maximize physical performance and endurance.
  • Rehabilitation: While fitness staff manage the return-to-running, medical staff manage the healing and clinical milestones.
  • So once fitness staff get the all clear, they try to get them ready, but they aren't aware of what's inside their bodies, as that's the medical staff's job. You can say that, but their job is to get them ready again, yes. But they do not know the issues, as they are not doctors. During the game, players say, "I feel something wrong with my knee." They don't go to the fitness staff, do they?

It's clear we need another sweeping review because the first one didn't work. Serpell is not solely to blame.

However, he is the head of the snake involved in final decision making and structure of all the programs.

I want it on record I said from the moment he came that his preseason quotes were strange and something to monitor. Especially when you factor in his background of getting a promotion and not being the main decision maker before this role.

My alarm bells were going off when he mentioned alternative training methods and changing all the players natural running styles they've had since they were kids, which I mentioned then. Only have to go to training to see the weird running on hips stuff etc.

It's been a disaster since with then with soft tissue, load and bone stress injuries and reinjuries and somehow keeps getting worse. So much damage has been done to our young players that even the most deluded about what has been going on can't just put it down to "bad luck".
 
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