McCarthy injury setback

[Strong hands Magee]

Tough luck for what would appear his last crack at footy in the hoops. Poor bugger


Bulging disc latest setback for Cat
By Michael Horan
February 9, 2006

INJURY has again threatened the football future of Geelong key forward Matthew McCarthy.

The 24 year old's wretched run of bad luck in the past two years includes two shoulder reconstructions and a broken wrist.

Now a bulging disc in his lower back has put his pre-season on hold.

The back injury flared at the Cats' "boot camp" before Christmas, and McCarthy admitted yesterday that he had no idea when he would be ready to play again.

"I've had it off and on for a couple of months," McCarthy said from the club's community camp at Warrnambool. "Hopefully it's starting to settle down a bit now.

"We've decided to rest it for the past couple of weeks and it seems like it's getting a bit better.

"But there is no time limit on it or anything because it's pretty unpredictable.

"It's the type of thing which might feel good in a few days and then it flares up, so I'm just taking it quietly, day by day."

After being voted the Cats' best first-year player in 2003, when he played 13 games and kicked 15 goals, he played just four games the following season.
Last season, after recovering from breaking a wrist, McCarthy dislocated his shoulder in the only senior game he played.

"I lasted about 15 minutes, which meant the last two years I've had reconstructions on my left shoulder," he said.

The 197cm forward has done a lot of weight work since his last operation, bulking up to 106kg in a bid to be stronger for this season, only to have this latest setback again stop him in his tracks.

"There are times when you get a new injury when you drop your head a bit, you get a bit flat, but it goes away," McCarthy said.

"You stop feeling sorry for yourself, start training and go about getting it right. You can't take it too seriously or it will send you crazy."

The Cats are delighted with the steady progress of several key players who required operations after last season.

Captain Steven King (finger), Brad Ottens (finger and groin), Tom Harley (knee), and Steve Johnson (ankles) are all being monitored carefully through restricted pre-season recoveries.

Defender David Wojcinski is one rehabilitated Cat who is up and running and ready to go.

Wojcinski, voted the Cats' most improved player in his 21 games in 2004, blew his knee against West Coast in round two last year.

After a full reconstruction, he is on track to be fit and available by round 1.

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18089210-23211,00.html

 

[Strong hands Magee]

Bugger me, he is 106kg!

 

[JUBJUB]

That's bad news for our VFL team

 

[thehoff]

That's bad news for our VFL team

Yeah, big blow. I am thinking the will be regretting no delisting him at the end of last season.

Can't see him playing a senior game this year.

But 106kg is a big boy, however he is 9 feet tall.

 

[BlueNWhite]

Don't think we'll be seeing 'helicopter' in the seniors again.
Was never a fan. You can be as huge as you like- if you can't kick straight you're useless to us. *coff* *looks at some other members of the GFC forward line*.....

 

[Rosso]

Yeah, big blow. I am thinking the will be regretting no delisting him at the end of last season.

Can't see him playing a senior game this year.

But 106kg is a big boy, however he is 9 feet tall.

Need him to play this year even if it's just to make sure Hank doesn't drop off. He showed last year in the VFL he's pretty handy first up and doesn't take long to get into form.

The one thing that he possesses that we haven't got up forward is the ability to hit a pack hard and take a grab. Should one of our talls go down, it would be nice to have a bloke who can take a contested mark step in.

I did mention in early Jan that he was massive, he's even got thehoff covered in the upper body department and that's saying something!!

 

[thehoff]

I did mention in early Jan that he was massive, he's even got thehoff covered in the upper body department and that's saying something!!

Doubt he is that big buddy

I hear what you are saying though. He is a very handy player in the reserves, i recall him kicking 7 strait last year.

It is unfortunate, but he just seems to be one of those footballers who cannot take the next step to AFL. Will always be a good VFL footballer, but the AFL seems a step that he can not grasp.

 

[Rosso]

Well he's certainly got nothing to lose this year so if he can get himself right it'll be interesting to see.

At the end of 03 he looked to have CHF in the bag (5 goals v Dees & some good physical work / speckies v WCE) but has only played a handful of games since.

Lets hope for his sake he recovers from this and at least gets one last crack at the big time.

 

[Rosso]

Well he's certainly got nothing to lose this year so if he can get himself right it'll be interesting to see.

At the end of 03 he looked to have CHF in the bag (5 goals v Dees & some good physical work / speckies v WCE) but has only played a handful of games since.

Lets hope for his sake he recovers from this and at least gets one last crack at the big time.

 

[cats2rise]

I am a fan and have been for ahwile even though he can't kick.. would love for him to put pressure on the big H and maybe play a few games if someone is injured. Hits packs ahrd and we havnt had that for abit in the tall department.