Egan Out Until Jan 2009

[Pivo]

First off - like everyone else I think this is f**ked up news and feel sorry for Egan. Although the news wasn't all that unexpected it is still disappointing to hear.

In light of this set-back I'd like to see the coaching staff look at alternatives and plan for the 'worse case' scenario.

I hope Egan plays again but if he doesn't then contingencies need to be put in place.

Taylor has been good this year but I don't see him as a long-term CHB who can take the power forwards week in-week out (he might yet prove he can but...)

I'd like to see West pushed back to CHB in the VFL and learn the role. He seems to be the most likely of the ruckman to hold down a key position and with Mumford a likely 'in' for the rest of the year (and beyond) GFC could use this Egan setback as an opportunity to groom West for a different role.

After all, if Taylor goes down then who does Geelong turn to??

Drafting is also going to be tricky with the addition of these new sides so Wells and co. will need to work their magic again.

All the best Matt Egan - I wish a speedy recovery with no ill effects but lets hope that the powers that be also start putting in place a plan B.

 

[FoxC]

First off - like everyone else I think this is f**ked up news and feel sorry for Egan. Although the news wasn't all that unexpected it is still disappointing to hear.

In light of this set-back I'd like to see the coaching staff look at alternatives and plan for the 'worse case' scenario.

I hope Egan plays again but if he doesn't then contingencies need to be put in place.

Taylor has been good this year but I don't see him as a long-term CHB who can take the power forwards week in-week out (he might yet prove he can but...)

I'd like to see West pushed back to CHB in the VFL and learn the role. He seems to be the most likely of the ruckman to hold down a key position and with Mumford a likely 'in' for the rest of the year (and beyond) GFC could use this Egan setback as an opportunity to groom West for a different role.

After all, if Taylor goes down then who does Geelong turn to??

Drafting is also going to be tricky with the addition of these new sides so Wells and co. will need to work their magic again.

All the best Matt Egan - I wish a speedy recovery with no ill effects but lets hope that the powers that be also start putting in place a plan B.

I'm not sure how Lonergan is going but your idea about West at CHB is certainly worth a try. Somehow he just doesn't look like a ruckman to me.

 

[budge11]

This sucks

Good luck to him returning strongly in '09

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Thank God for Harry Taylor right now - someone at the club must have had an inkling that this might happen.

I've just watched a replay of the Geelong v Brisbane game, Hazza played a handy game indeed. Bloody glad someone had the foresight to pick him up. Oldest player drafted since 1995, according to the commentary.

 

[cats2rise]

Bah.

 

[Pivo]

I'm not sure how Lonergan is going but your idea about West at CHB is certainly worth a try. Somehow he just doesn't look like a ruckman to me.

Had a feeling the name Lonergan would appear FoxC but for mine I'm just not convinced that Lonergan is going to make it.

I know he is coming back from a sickening injury so I don't say it lightly but in my eyes he didn't really show a great deal leading up to the injury (his best game was the one he got hurt in) and seems to have been pushed down the pecking order.

Besides that, I doubt Lonergan could go head-to-head with the power forwards anyway (the arguement against him is the same as Taylor's) so that was why I threw West's name into the mix.

Both West and Mumford appear to move well around the ground but Mumford's height means he is a ruckman first.

West however could be turned into a CHB if Geelong start using him in that role now.

It is going to be intresting, the importance of Egan is known to all. He allowed Scarlett to be an even more attacking full back and allowed Harley to take the key medium-small forward (a role Harley does very, very well).

Taylor is good but long term I see him playing the role that Mackie and Milburn play.

Still, Lonergan is always an option I suppose.

 

[catsrule]

• I AM not sure what was worse, trying to hold back tears as my career looked all but finished, or listening as the world dissected my life and my troublesome foot.

While I sat on my kitchen bench in early 1999 and listened to ex-players, James Hird fans and James Hird knockers on talkback radio, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.
Here were experts - some with medical degrees and most without - declaring I would never play again and that despite a Brownlow Medal, a premiership, a few best-and-fairests, at the tender age of 25 my career was not only finished but a disappointing waste of talent.
This was, in fact, as dark as it got and one day after breaking the navicular bone in my foot, I picked myself up, stopped feeling sorry for myself and realised that if I was to achieve my life's dream of captaining Essendon to a premiership then I had to be super motivated, ruthless, single-minded and, finally, patient.
I am sure Geelong's Matthew Egan is having similar thoughts.
Passed up by many clubs, Matthew has done it harder than any first-round draft pick.
He is now an All-Australian and a respected AFL player. Now the dedication and single-mindedness that got him there will need to rise to the surface again.
Long-term injuries are no fun. They make a footy club a lonely and boring place.
At the moment Egan would want no more than to experience the feeling of a group training session where the ball is zinging around and you and your mates are slapping each other on the back.

All he has is the comfort of the physio bench and the loneliness of the swimming pool or weights room.
The navicular bone is a very small but important bone.
It resides on the top inside of your foot, just below your ankle joint. It takes a great load of the weight that goes through your body when you stand, walk and more so when you run.
According to the doctors who treated me, it has one of the lowest rates of blood flowing through it of any of the body's bones.
These two issues - high load and lack of blood flow - make it an extraordinarily slow healer. Not good when you are an impatient footballer.
I broke my foot three times before I got it right. I think Matthew is up to two breaks. I have spoken to him in the past about his foot and was very disappointed to hear of this happening to him again.
The lesson I learnt is that time is the main healer for this bone.
Dedication, single-mindedness and a ruthless approach to your rehab are important, but patience is key.
I had a great team around me - my surgeon Julian Feller, club doctor Bruce Reid, Bruce Connor our physio and John Quinn, who ran my rehab program and acted as full-time psychologist.
In my opinion we all made mistakes along this process, not big ones but enough to stop the bone healing.
The way we got it right was that in every decision around running and load through my foot, we were conservative.
Three times we tried and twice we failed, it was devastating and gut-wrenching but ultimately it was this injury that gave me an appreciation of football that I did not have before.
Did Egan and his Geelong medical staff make a mistake by trying to get him back for last year's Grand Final?
Most would say yes, but in my opinion when the ultimate prize is so close you must try.
I also doubt that once he broke it, running around a few times before the GF is the reason he still can't run today.
To me that is history. Dwelling on the fact will not get his foot better.
Pro-active, methodical problem solving and a bit of luck is what is needed.
Egan will get better.
He has decided to wait until next year before trying again. This is smart.
Along the way he will have huge self doubt and will need a lot of support. Geelong has signed him until 2010; his coach is behind him and so are his teammates.
All I can say is good luck, mate, because once you get through this you will be a better player who appreciates the game more than most.
My money is on Matthew Egan as the 2009 All-Australian full-back, and when you finally get to stand on that victory dais on Grand Final day with a premiership medallion around your neck you will know that nobody earned it as much as you did.

From today's Herald Sun, last paragraph brought a tear to my eye

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Great words of wisdom from a bloke who once felt the same pain. Nice one Hirdy Nice one catsrule

 

[burto]

I cannot understand why people are saying Taylor won't be able to take power forwards in the future...

He is the same size as Scarlett, and has the same uncanny ability to get in front or get a fist in for the spoil out of nowhere. Sure, he's not as big as Egan/Rutten etc. But surely Scarlett has shown us that great defenders don't need to be 198cm, 100 kgs ?

Taylor = Gun

 

[Pivo]

I cannot understand why people are saying Taylor won't be able to take power forwards in the future...

He is the same size as Scarlett, and has the same uncanny ability to get in front or get a fist in for the spoil out of nowhere. Sure, he's not as big as Egan/Rutten etc. But surely Scarlett has shown us that great defenders don't need to be 198cm, 100 kgs ?

Taylor = Gun

Do you recall what Brown did to Scarlett last year in rd 22 when Egan went off? I know it was a rare occurance but...

How about how Pavlich handled Taylor this year?

I'm not doubting Taylor can play, I just don't think he is the right sort of match up for those sorts of forwards. A guy like Egan anchors the back half allowing the other guys to attack. Besides, I also worry that if Egan doesn't get back what happens if Taylor gets injured? I think West could be a good option if he learns the role. Geelong seem a little thin down back for mine.

Happy to be proven wrong regarding Taylor of course.

Besides, Scarlett is a 1-in-a-million, even Glen Archer agrees.