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I'm 50-50 for Dockers: Carey
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
5:13:17 PM Wed 16 July, 2003
Wayne Carey, nursing 14 stitches in a deep, swollen gash just above his right kneecap, gives himself a 50-50 chance of playing in the crucial Adelaide-Fremantle match at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.
Carey wants to play in his 10th match this season and is likely to be named in the Crows’ initial squad of 25 on Thursday, with a final decision left until Friday or even Saturday.
“It’s pretty good,” Carey said of his knee, which he hurt in a heavy, sliding collision with a point post during the third quarter against Essendon at AAMI Stadium last Friday night.
“It was pretty sore a few days after but it feels very good now. The swelling’s gone down a lot – it was fairly puffy – and I give myself a pretty good chance.
“I’ll run tonight (Wednesday) indoors on a treadmill and give myself every chance to play on Sunday. A nine-day break has given me a good chance. I’d say I was probably 50-50. I’m not really a betting man, other than on Saturdays, Sundays and Fridays.”
Carey said he had spoken to Adelaide coach Gary Ayres again on Wednesday and Ayres would decide whether he played against the Dockers.
“He said he’d give me every opportunity to get up for Sunday, so we’ll assess it again tomorrow and continue to work to play on Sunday,” Carey said.
“They’ve put about seven or eight stitches on the inside, and they’re dissolvable stitches, so hopefully they do the job. And with a bit of padding over the knee, I think we’ll get away with it.”
Carey said his body felt ‘really, really good’.
“I really haven’t got a complaint at the moment, other than running into the point post and having a gash in my knee,” he said. “I obviously want to play every week. I don’t want to miss this week, hence I’ll be doing my best to get up.”
Carey said he did not think the worst for his knee when he collided with the point post.
“I knew I hadn’t twisted the knee or anything like that, so I knew I wouldn’t need a reconstruction,” he said. “But I didn’t know whether I’d shattered my kneecap or something like that.
“You could actually see the kneecap, which was a bit scary. You could see the bone. That scared me more than anything, the fact you could see everything down there. It wasn’t a good look.
“I’ve been playing for a fair while now, from the time I was eight and I’m now 32, and I’ve never run into a point post before like that, so there’s a first for everything. It was just one of those things.”
Carey’s injury triggered contrasting emotions among the 41,758 spectators, who had braved cold, wet conditions at AAMI Stadium.
An eerie silence followed the collision, with the crowd fearing he had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Then the crowd booed loudly when the offending point post was shown on the giant video screen.
And the crowd cheered when an update of Carey’s injury – ‘no structural damage’ – was shown on the big screen, and even louder cheering erupted again when Carey’s appearance in the players’ race, with his knee stitched and bandaged, also was screened.
All this remarkable, emotional adulation for a champion the fiercely parochial Adelaide crowd used to boo every time he got near the ball – when he played for the Kangaroos – was not lost on Carey.
“Ever since I’ve arrived, the people of Adelaide have shown great support,” he said. “I’ve received thousands of letters from Adelaide people and Victorian people – and all over Australia, for that matter. The support’s been great.”
Carey said he had ‘copped a bit of a ribbing’ from team-mates for appearing to give the crowd the thumbs-up sign when he was standing in the players’ race during the last quarter.
“I was standing in the race and a guy hung over the race and said: ‘Wayne, how are you?’ And I went like that (thumbs up) as if to say, OK, and they put it up on the big screen,” he said. “So it looked like I was doing it to the whole crowd. I wasn’t but the response was great – overwhelming.”
Carey said he did not hear the crowd boo the point post.
“I was actually in getting stitched up, in a little bit of pain, so I didn’t hear that,” he said.
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
5:13:17 PM Wed 16 July, 2003
Wayne Carey, nursing 14 stitches in a deep, swollen gash just above his right kneecap, gives himself a 50-50 chance of playing in the crucial Adelaide-Fremantle match at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.
Carey wants to play in his 10th match this season and is likely to be named in the Crows’ initial squad of 25 on Thursday, with a final decision left until Friday or even Saturday.
“It’s pretty good,” Carey said of his knee, which he hurt in a heavy, sliding collision with a point post during the third quarter against Essendon at AAMI Stadium last Friday night.
“It was pretty sore a few days after but it feels very good now. The swelling’s gone down a lot – it was fairly puffy – and I give myself a pretty good chance.
“I’ll run tonight (Wednesday) indoors on a treadmill and give myself every chance to play on Sunday. A nine-day break has given me a good chance. I’d say I was probably 50-50. I’m not really a betting man, other than on Saturdays, Sundays and Fridays.”
Carey said he had spoken to Adelaide coach Gary Ayres again on Wednesday and Ayres would decide whether he played against the Dockers.
“He said he’d give me every opportunity to get up for Sunday, so we’ll assess it again tomorrow and continue to work to play on Sunday,” Carey said.
“They’ve put about seven or eight stitches on the inside, and they’re dissolvable stitches, so hopefully they do the job. And with a bit of padding over the knee, I think we’ll get away with it.”
Carey said his body felt ‘really, really good’.
“I really haven’t got a complaint at the moment, other than running into the point post and having a gash in my knee,” he said. “I obviously want to play every week. I don’t want to miss this week, hence I’ll be doing my best to get up.”
Carey said he did not think the worst for his knee when he collided with the point post.
“I knew I hadn’t twisted the knee or anything like that, so I knew I wouldn’t need a reconstruction,” he said. “But I didn’t know whether I’d shattered my kneecap or something like that.
“You could actually see the kneecap, which was a bit scary. You could see the bone. That scared me more than anything, the fact you could see everything down there. It wasn’t a good look.
“I’ve been playing for a fair while now, from the time I was eight and I’m now 32, and I’ve never run into a point post before like that, so there’s a first for everything. It was just one of those things.”
Carey’s injury triggered contrasting emotions among the 41,758 spectators, who had braved cold, wet conditions at AAMI Stadium.
An eerie silence followed the collision, with the crowd fearing he had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Then the crowd booed loudly when the offending point post was shown on the giant video screen.
And the crowd cheered when an update of Carey’s injury – ‘no structural damage’ – was shown on the big screen, and even louder cheering erupted again when Carey’s appearance in the players’ race, with his knee stitched and bandaged, also was screened.
All this remarkable, emotional adulation for a champion the fiercely parochial Adelaide crowd used to boo every time he got near the ball – when he played for the Kangaroos – was not lost on Carey.
“Ever since I’ve arrived, the people of Adelaide have shown great support,” he said. “I’ve received thousands of letters from Adelaide people and Victorian people – and all over Australia, for that matter. The support’s been great.”
Carey said he had ‘copped a bit of a ribbing’ from team-mates for appearing to give the crowd the thumbs-up sign when he was standing in the players’ race during the last quarter.
“I was standing in the race and a guy hung over the race and said: ‘Wayne, how are you?’ And I went like that (thumbs up) as if to say, OK, and they put it up on the big screen,” he said. “So it looked like I was doing it to the whole crowd. I wasn’t but the response was great – overwhelming.”
Carey said he did not hear the crowd boo the point post.
“I was actually in getting stitched up, in a little bit of pain, so I didn’t hear that,” he said.
Perrie will be fired up!!!!!
