Injury Fremantle 2023 Injury Thread

stax on the mull

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He hasn’t run in months

Fremantle Dockers captain Nat Fyfe says his shoulder was ‘blown to pieces’ as he eyes 2022 AFL season
Adrian Barich and Mitchell Woodcock
The West Australian
Tue, 9 November 2021 6:45PM

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe has spoken about his 'grim' shoulder injury.
Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe has spoken about his 'grim' shoulder injury. Credit: The West Australian Sport

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe is facing the battle of his career due to side effects to his shoulder reconstruction in July.

Fyfe laid bare the extent of his issues last night, saying:

he hasn’t been able to run for four months;
he needed a bone graft from his hip to repair his “blown to pieces” shoulder
he must go to Hollywood - Hospital every day to intravenous antibiotics;
he can’t sweat;
he also had finger surgery.

“It’s pretty grim. I haven’t run for four months so I’ve got a fair bit of work to do to make sure I’m ready to go for next year,” Fyfe told 7NEWS.

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Fyfe required a second bout of surgery last month and an infection developed. The West Australian understands the Fremantle skipper may be forced to continue taking antibiotics throughout next season.

Fyfe is working with well-known infectious disease expert Clay Golledge at Hollywood.

The 30-year-old had his first operation in July after several dislocations through the season.

A scan after 12 weeks revealed he needed another operation.

Nat Fyfe shows the PICC drip in his arm.
Nat Fyfe shows the PICC drip in his arm. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS

Fyfe said he felt pain while surfing in Tasmania last month, which led to the second operation, which included a hip graft.

“It revealed that the - surgery had failed, the bone block had come off through the latarjet procedure and was floating around in my shoulder,” Fyfe said.

“It just never quite got going. Usually, the strength starts to come up, the pain starts to go down. But I had all sorts of crunching and it just wasn’t right.

“I was trying to surf over in Tasmania (last month) and it just was really hurting me.

“I was on pain killers… we went and got it scanned and it’d just blown to pieces.

“There’s just a small percentage of these shoulder operations that don’t work and unfortunately I’ve become a statistic of that.

“I’ve had the same surgery on my left shoulder with the same surgeon in Melbourne and I’ve never had an issue with that again.”

The dual Brownlow medallist said he would be sidelined for months and needed to go to Hollywood Hospital every day to get the PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line antibiotics changed.


Nat Fyfe is assessed by the club doctor ain round 18.
Nat Fyfe is assessed by the club doctor ain round 18. Credit: Paul Kane/via AFL Photos
“I can’t sweat, I can’t train. I’ve got my other shoulder recovering as well, so I’m a little bit stuck at the moment,” he said.

“This sort of infection doesn’t get picked up through blood tests or any visible signs, so it was really only due to the diligence of the surgeon, Pete D’Alessandro, that we’ve actually found it and it may be some indicator as to why the surgery failed, we’re just not sure.”

Fyfe hopes the injury won’t impact him next year.

“I’ve mentioned I want to play more midfield time next year and that’s what I’ll be basing my pre-season around,” he said.

“I think physically and mentally, those two things will be fighting it out to see which one fails first, but I plan on playing for a number of years yet


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The quotes come straight from Channel 7 interview. Doesn't seem as alarming when you hear him talking about it.


 
Aug 16, 2009
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I know they're only human and deserve their time off etc, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with our rehabbing captain going surfing. Or am I a wowser?
C'mon. If anyone is professional enough to know their body and themselves as far as not going too hard and being careful while balancing also getting some sort of mental respite/refresh, it's Fyfe.
 

freodog

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Can't believe he kept on trying to play after that initial injury. He was obviously carrying his shoulder. Better to go in and get it fixed up and would have been set for a big 2022 season.
 

Freeeoo

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Could be a blessing in disguise, gives his body a complete rest and then slow build to play the last 25-30% of the season
Also puts more responsibility on the shoulders of the young mids which will help them fast track.
 
Could be a blessing in disguise, gives his body a complete rest and then slow build to play the last 25-30% of the season
Also puts more responsibility on the shoulders of the young mids which will help them fast track.

Its never good to need such drastic surgery obviously but hopefully it really does provide his body with that good rest.

I don't think hes the type of guy that takes anything that resembles a break between seasons physically so an actual forced one might be beneficial long term.

In the short term i hope the club and Nat take the time to reassess the on field leadership and make a change.
 

Superkoops

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Can't believe he kept on trying to play after that initial injury. He was obviously carrying his shoulder. Better to go in and get it fixed up and would have been set for a big 2022 season.
Had nothing to with his infection. Reading between the lines it seems he had ongoing issues following his first surgery over in Melbourne. Never got going was his words. He then went for second surgery locally to repair the issue (via a bone graft from his hip) with Peter D'alessandro. Having sat in some case conferences with Peter I can say Peter is very good and very thorough. Sounds like Peter did some tests and further follow-up and about 5-days post surgery picked up in a bacterial infection. Nat made some comments that I don’t really understand around the injection being an issue Post first surgery.

Let’s hope that the infection clears up with the initial heavy and daily IV antibiotic treatment that he started on 1 November. The press release at that time said he would be on the IV antibiotic course for 2-3 weeks. Hopefully he should be all cleared up by 19/11/2021. One thing I can say is he is in good hands.

Like I said we won’t see Nat training this year and we’ll down the track with light running all going well in the new year.

I’d suggest a mid season return is conservative and plenty of time for him to get a heavy running load and maybe a game with Peel or simulated training load.

In the meantime we can focus on starting the season without him and see how Will Brodie fits into the mix. An opportunity for Blakely and perhaps a draftee like Hobbs or Matt Johnson depending on the way the cards fall for the ND.
 

332docker

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The way the media carries on he is getting his last rites
I wonder if he is double Jabbed with the Pfizer before he had the op? He might regret that if it might have caused an issue with his body being able to fight off infection.
Lots of people having side affects to the Covid Jabs and long term issues won't be known for years
 
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Nat Fyfe: Specialist Dr Clay Golledge provides update on injured Fremantle Dockers captain’s shoulder
Headshot of Craig O'Donoghue

Craig O'DonoghueThe West Australian
Thu, 11 November 2021 6:50PM
Craig O'Donoghue

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe is fighting to recover from multiple shoulder surgeries and an infection.

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe is fighting to recover from multiple shoulder surgeries and an infection.Credit: Will Russell/AFL Photos

Scans and tests have cleared Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe to end his course of intravenous antibiotics and begin the slow recovery from shoulder surgery, but the man helping him to beat an infection admits the Brownlow medallist is unlikely to be available for round one.
Fyfe outlined his battle this week, describing the plight as “pretty grim” following a second bout of shoulder surgery.
WA surgeon Peter D’Alessandro discovered an infection, Cutibacteriun, which had been laying dormant in Fyfe’s shoulder since an operation in Melbourne during July and prevented his body from healing.
He has since been treated daily by infectious disease expert Dr Clay Golledge, but investigations on Wednesday produced positive news.
“Everything is healing beautifully and everything is in the right place,” Dr Golledge told The West Australian.
“All his blood tests are good and he’s feeling really comfortable. He’s coming out of his sling and doing gentle exercises.
Nat Fyfe’s original surgery in Melbourne in July didn’t go as planned.

Nat Fyfe’s original surgery in Melbourne in July didn’t go as planned. Credit: Nat Fyfe Instagram/TheWest
“Everything is progressing really well and we’re hoping to cease the intravenous antibiotics within the next few days. What we will try and do is leave him on long term antibiotics probably right throughout the whole season.
“We’ll step down from intravenous to oral in the next few days. Those oral antibiotics will be a really high dose. The plan will to be on a high dose for couple more months and look to drop down to a lower dose.
“We’re very confident we’ll be able to suppress this infection and hopefully cure it once and for all.
“I’ve been hearing all sorts of stuff on social media that it’s a resistant bug that is hard to treat and it will destroy his joint. It’s none of those things.”
Fyfe will continue to have regular scans and faces a significant challenge to re-build both his body and his fitness.
Nat Fyfe has been living with an IV in his arm but that treatment will end in the coming days.

Nat Fyfe has been living with an IV in his arm but that treatment will end in the coming days. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS
The 30-year-old hasn’t run for four months and hasn’t been allowed to exercise while receiving the intravenous treatment.
Dr Golledge described Fyfe as “the most determined and toughest guy you will find” but admitted everything needed to go right for him to be available for round one.
“He’d be at least 12 weeks away from doing significant contact stuff. It would be very ambitious that he’d be ready for round one,” Dr Golledge said.
Fyfe’s injury prompted three-time Essendon premiership star Tim Watson to declare he shouldn’t be captain.
Watson said Fyfe needed to concentrate on his recovery.
“There’s no way known that he’s going to be the captain of Fremantle next season,” Watson told SEN.
“How can you be under those circumstances? How can you be captain?
“He hasn’t run for four months, he hasn’t got back to training yet. He’s that far behind.
“His ability to get out there and play is going to affect his leadership.”
 

arsesmart

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I wonder if he is double Jabbed with the Pfizer before he had the op? He might regret that if it might have caused an issue with his body being able to fight off infection.
Lots of people having side affects to the Covid Jabs and long term issues won't be known for years
What mechanism would cause that? Vaccines arrive in the body, do their stuff and leave. They'd be out of the system frequently in a couple of days and maybe a couple of weeks at a stretch.
 

wayToGo_

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Lots of people having side affects to the Covid Jabs and long term issues won't be known for years
This is like saying lots of people die falling out of bed each year so we should stop sleeping in beds. (450 people die from falling out of bed each year)

Of the 7.36 billion doses administered so far how many have had side effects?
 

Superkoops

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What mechanism would cause that? Vaccines arrive in the body, do their stuff and leave. They'd be out of the system frequently in a couple of days and maybe a couple of weeks at a stretch.
Not only that the rare bacterial infection had been lying dormant since his original surgery back in July. The AFL guys didn’t start getting the Pfizer or Moderna until after the AFL season. A lot of misinformation which isn’t a surprise.

Also, putting aside the infection the shoulder revision Surgery alone would have required 3-months of non-contact time.

I’d be expecting 6months from late November. Get used to seeing TBC and then in early to mid May all of a sudden 2-3 weeks.
 

Paracleet

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I wonder if he is double Jabbed with the Pfizer before he had the op? He might regret that if it might have caused an issue with his body being able to fight off infection.
Lots of people having side affects to the Covid Jabs and long term issues won't be known for years
Should have done his research eh..
 
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I wonder if he is double Jabbed with the Pfizer before he had the op? He might regret that if it might have caused an issue with his body being able to fight off infection.
Lots of people having side affects to the Covid Jabs and long term issues won't be known for years
You wot. Piss off with that s**t.
 
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