News Injuries 2018

[Del165892]

His shoulder fell off.

That's not very typical.

 

[webbo]

Jj to have a hip clean out

WESTERN Bulldogs star Jason Johannisen will have off-season surgery to correct a lingering hip injury.

The 25-year-old had been battling the complaint in the latter part of the season, and will go under the knife early next week.

The Bulldogs hope the minor clean-up won't hinder his preparation for the 2019 pre-season that will begin on November 19.

Despite playing all 22 games, Johannisen's season reflected an inconsistent Bulldogs outfit that missed the finals for the second consecutive season.

The 2016 Norm Smith Medallist finished the season strongly, averaging 29 disposals in the last four matches, where the Dogs went 3-1.

Johannisen's surgery adds to a long list of Bulldogs injuries in the latter half of the season.

Regulars Marcus Adams (shoulder), Luke Dahlhaus (ankle), Bailey Dale (foot), Tory Dickson (hamstring), Lin Jong (sternum), Jack Redpath (knee), Matt Suckling (Achilles), Zaine Cordy (facial fracture) and Lukas Webb (neck) missed the final round.

Tom Liberatore ruptured his ACL in the opening round of the season, while Liam Picken (concussion) failed to play this season but has been cleared to continue in 2019.

 

[Spectre]

It's decisions like these that are perplexing. Why keep JJ in the side and off the operating table if we're not in finals and you're worried about impacting his preseason? Appreciate the last month form trajectory of the side might be a net positive, but surely the logical approach would have been to book him and anyone else in to get sorted when it became apparent we were just making up the numbers?

 

[dogwatch]

It's decisions like these that are perplexing. Why keep JJ in the side and off the operating table if we're not in finals and you're worried about impacting his preseason? Appreciate the last month form trajectory of the side might be a net positive, but surely the logical approach would have been to book him and anyone else in to get sorted when it became apparent we were just making up the numbers?

I agree.

However I wonder whether the AFL has sent a discreet reminder to non-finals-bound clubs not to send players for off season surgery until it's actually the off-season, otherwise they'll be investigated for tanking. IIRC we used to see a fair bit more of that in years gone by, but not so much now.

Realistically we could have sent about half a dozen players for surgery and would have had blokes we clearly don't rate in our best 40 like BTC, Porter and NMM running around in the seniors. That's not a good look for footy even it makes sense at the club level.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

What about Bont?

 

[Pugz89]

What about Bont?

 

[Spectre]

I agree.

However I wonder whether the AFL has sent a discreet reminder to non-finals-bound clubs not to send players for off season surgery until it's actually the off-season, otherwise they'll be investigated for tanking. IIRC we used to see a fair bit more of that in years gone by, but not so much now.

Realistically we could have sent about half a dozen players for surgery and would have had blokes we clearly don't rate in our best 40 like BTC, Porter and NMM running around in the seniors. That's not a good look for footy even it makes sense at the club level.

Good point, and exactly the kind of opaque policy and duplicitous behaviour one would expect from AFL House. I haven't paid nearly enough attention to the injury lists of other clubs, wonder if other teams at the foot of the ladder have the same thing (long term injuries requiring surgery only getting done now)...

 

[jdz101]

When are we delisting Mat Inness?

 

[batesy]

No surgery for Bont worries me. IIRC he elected not to have surgery last year either on his hip, but I thought he clearly looked hampered by it at times, particularly early. No surgery may mean that there is no ‘fixing’ issue, it’s just going to have to be managed throughout his career.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[dogwatch]

No surgery for Bont worries me. IIRC he elected not to have surgery last year either on his hip, but I thought he clearly looked hampered by it at times, particularly early. No surgery may mean that there is no ‘fixing’ issue, it’s just going to have to be managed throughout his career.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

It's an interesting point since Bont is our one true marquee player. We might never hear much official about his condition if it's just got to be managed because the more is known about it the more unscrupulous teams will target his injured parts (e.g. Lamb).

Naturally we all want him to be able to reach the peak of his undoubted abilities but if we only ever got from him the sort of output we got in 2018 we'd still be doing OK. Yes it would be disappointing, but still good enough to be in our top 3-4 players every year.