Francou's knee gone again

[Powergirl]

Im so devastated and sorry about what has happened to Francou. I've always admired him as a player. I wonder who will take his place for another year?!

 

[powernut]

I thought that it was someone's idea of a cruel joke.....

All the best Josh and hope his recovery goes well.

Maybe it's time for Wilbur to go back on the ball and RFK to take his spot in the back line?? It also opens up positions for Sal and SOG. All is not lost. I hope the players don't concede already...We have an abundance of smalls, many of whom haven't had the chance to "strut their stuff" just yet. It's time......

 

[Port1978]

 

[Kid Dynamite!]

I'd like to see Chris Hall get some time in the middle/off a forward flank before he's discarded and/or completely forgotten about. He tore them up in the SANFL last season and I like to think he's a pocket version of Dewy. I'd love to have two of them in the side, although with the way things are going at the moment there are probably others who are streets ahead of him in terms of getting a place in the side.

 

[PAfolwr]

I get home from work to this news.
$#*@!
double $#*@!!

 

[blackdiamond]

What more can I say without yelling out the usual expletives.

Its easy in hindsight but we might as well have played Josh in the finals.

Football aside, Im sure Josh will have a huge smile on his face soon enough when he becomes a Dad for the first time.

Lets just hope he can take some inspiration out of Wilson and Lade and come back.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by understudy
Serious question port fans whats up with James, injured is he?

Very hard to keep abreast of injuries this time of year.

It came out last week that Roger had a groin injury similar to OP all last year but decided to play thru it anyway until it became unbearable at the end of the year and couldnt play anymore.

Hes had surgery and its unsure whether its fixed it or not. Hes 6-7 weeks behind the rest of the groups pre season (he only started running last week) and theyve said he wont be back until round 6-7.

 

[Macca19]

Ive settled down and thought about it and in reality, we went alright without him last year, we should do alright without him this year.

The only player we still need to replace is Stevens and there are plenty in line for that outside midfielder role.

We should be ok.

 

[mic59]

We must be doing something wrong for this to happen. No Primus for most of 1999 and 2003, no Lade for 2000 and 2001, no Wilson for most of 2001 and 2002 and now no Josh for 2003 and 2004. I'd sell my soul to the devil if I thought it would do any good but I've heard a whisper he follows Brisbane.

The injury to Lade was pure bad luck but a hard look has to be taken at our fitness coach. Wilson and Francou were both badly injured in the course of play, their legs should be prepared for the rigours of AFL football. The players are the ones who do the exercise but the fitness coach is meant to be the expert who advises what they should do.

Years ago at school I played in a footy team with a bloke who was one of the most avid exercisers I have seen. And apart from the usual knee-bends, squat thrusts etc. he would after every session go through a series of exercises that had been designed for him by his father, an athletics coach. These were to tone down as he put it, so that his muscles were not taut the next day. We all thought this guy really wierd for the effort he put in, after all we were just a second-rate schoolboys team; but he never cramped up after or during a game, or injured himself in some innocuous training drill. And at the school sports days he usually won most of the trophies. Maybe there was something to be said for what he did, after all.

 

[dreamkillers]

Originally posted by Macca19
Ive settled down and thought about it and in reality, we went alright without him last year, we should do alright without him this year.

The only player we still need to replace is Stevens and there are plenty in line for that outside midfielder role.

We should be ok.

I have now too but a few people at work today wondered what happened when I first found out and almost shouted out '****' before closing the office door.


Like others have said it should force Chocco to play one or two players a lot more than we all would have expected and it's opportunities like this where the good players step up.

We have plenty of youngsters on our list who should be looking at this as their opportunity and given a chance it's quite possible we could see another future star in the making.

Lets hope he comes out of his shell a bit and especially during the pre-season comp where we should be looking to play as many of the youngsters as possible.

 

[kirky]

Not sure what to say. Never like it when a player who works so hard to get back on the training track does their knee again. I'm sure he'll be back in 12 months. All the best, Josh.

 

[Ray Nolan]

FFS!

Gutted for Josh, he and our Football Club just do not deserve this, not the news I wanted to hear when I got back to Adelaide.

Chin up Josh, we're hurtin' with ya.

 

[Nicski]

Originally posted by Scott

Football aside, Im sure Josh will have a huge smile on his face soon enough when he becomes a Dad for the first time.

That is good news, fantastic that he at least has something to brighten things up a bit.

What mic59 has spoken about has got me wondering too, I mean how many clubs have had 3 players who have missed 2 seasons in a row? It's all very well to say bad luck, but doesn't look good

I guess we could say bad luck comes in threes...

 

[Kid Dynamite!]

If bad luck comes in threes, then this year is our year.

 

[doggies1954]

I cant help but laught at you all, but then think that we had grant and alvey last year with knee injuries so Ikinda feel sorry for you...and if you didn't noticed i go for the bulldogs

 

[PAfolwr]

Originally posted by mic59
We must be doing something wrong for this to happen. No Primus for most of 1999 and 2003, no Lade for 2000 and 2001, no Wilson for most of 2001 and 2002 and now no Josh for 2003 and 2004. I'd sell my soul to the devil if I thought it would do any good but I've heard a whisper he follows Brisbane.

The injury to Lade was pure bad luck but a hard look has to be taken at our fitness coach. Wilson and Francou were both badly injured in the course of play, their legs should be prepared for the rigours of AFL football. The players are the ones who do the exercise but the fitness coach is meant to be the expert who advises what they should do.
...

And Lockwood as well.

 

[doggies40]

Wow i just heard the news on josh, that is such bad luck for the guy, t he club and you guys and girls, now that ive heard it it has got me worried about granty at the doggies, it can happen again so easily.
Anyway good luck for the year guys.

 

[Nicski]

Originally posted by doggies40
Wow i just heard the news on josh, that is such bad luck for the guy, t he club and you guys and girls, now that ive heard it it has got me worried about granty at the doggies, it can happen again so easily.
Anyway good luck for the year guys.

Thanks for the kind words

Good luck for Grant this year too.

 

[PortProudWA]

devastated ........not what any of us need to hear......
Hope Ladey and Wilbur help josh though what is going to be such a hard year.....
what a horrible sick feeling i have in my guts now

 

[chris17]

It's terrible news, but I guess one of the positives to look at is how well we did without Josh last season. I know he would have been very valuable in ther finals, but i think our finals problems have little to do with Josh.

I think there is a possibility that he will announce his retirement maybe Monday, when the club are suppose to have a media conference regarding the news. Maybe he won't. But he has age and history against him.

 

[JuniorBurger]

Totally gutted, chin up Josh we're behind you all the way!

 

[RoosterWedgie]

All the best in your recovery Josh.

Not trolling but I ask is it time to question Port's medicos?

Track record doesn't look to good with Josh, Primus, Wilson, Lade, Lockwood, etc and I know of one current Power player who's family was considering a law suit against the club becaue of the way his injury was treated poorly/incorrectly when a 2 month injury ended up being a year long injury.

Even Chocko indicated on 5AA that an external medical enquiry wouldn't be out of the question.

You've even got to go as far to say that maybe the medicos at Alberton may have cost Port at least one premiership? No wonder Chocko isn't happy.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Originally posted by RoosterWedgie
All the best in your recovery Josh.

Not trolling but I ask is it time to question Port's medicos?

Track record doesn't look to good with Josh, Primus, Wilson, Lade, Lockwood, etc and I know of one current Power player who's family was considering a law suit against the club becaue of the way his injury was treated poorly/incorrectly when a 2 month injury ended up being a year long injury.

Even Chocko indicated on 5AA that an external medical enquiry wouldn't be out of the question.

You've even got to go as far to say that maybe the medicos at Alberton may have cost Port at least one premiership? No wonder Chocko isn't happy.

That player wouldn't be Damon White would it? The guy who had to have his ankle rebroken because it wasn't set properly in the first place?

A few people have raised these issues now, and it's something you have to wonder. The fitness training and the medicos. Does any club have as many cases of OP as us? Maybe it's just me, but it seems we turn them up all the time, and that's just the ones the club admits to. I still remember the Peter Burgoyne OP revelation as a defence at one of his tribunal hearings a couple of years back. We probably would never have heard about that otherwise.

How many players do we seem to have fall apart late in the year? For the last three years we've either looked flat or copped injuries at the wrong end of the year (or brought back guys who'd fallen over during the year and weren't physically up to playing finals).

Roger James is a classic example. He carries groin pain all year, yet they play him in a game for Norwood, instead of a final for Port! Then when he breaks down, oh well too bad, he just needs rest. He rests for 3 months and he gets no better, oh he needs surgery. Excuse me? This couldn't have been picked up on at least 6 months ago so he would have done the full preseason by now?

Double knee recos for Wilson and Francou. Primus buggered around all last year with some weird injury no one either was willing to, or could, explain. Lade and Lockwood, ok bad luck, can't be helped, but Lockwood was hung onto for way too long in the hope of a miracle cure which didn't exist (sorry KD but for his last 2 years he was a waste of space on that list, talent, intent or not). Hardwick admits he came back too soon too often from his injuries last year ... shouldn't proper fitness testing in a professional club environment prevent that?

And finally Choco and Andrew Russell come out at the end of the season and admit they may have pushed the fitness base too hard last year (I mean after the injuries in 2002 they actually upped the training last year!) and will reign it in, make training more individualised this year. Admittedly they seem to have stopped the hamstring plague of our earlier years but have managed to replace it with another curse.

Interesting to note that what pretty much finished Andrew Russell's athletics career was overtraining after injury in an attempt to get up to speed for international qualifying.

 

[understudy]

Oh dear things dont look to good down at Alberton.

How are you expecting the year to unfold FF?

 

[chris17]

I still think we will finish top 2, if not top. One player missing, even if it is Josh, won't mean the side will finish much lower.