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ROTTEN FINGER
Brad Ottens Saturday, December 31
Sarah Bieske
GEELONG'S injury woes look set to continue into the new year with news that Brad Ottens' troublesome left ring finger has become re-infected.
Cats' football manager Garry Davidson yesterday confirmed that Ottens' finger was infected for the second time since he had surgery on it late last season.
The key forward was already recovering from a serious groin tear but has had his pre-season further hampered by this latest finger drama.
It has prompted fears among the Cats' camp that Ottens' marking ability and ball-handling may be permanently affected.
It is believed the club and Ottens have considered amputation of the finger as a solution if things don't improve by the start of the season.
Although Davidson would not speculate on the severity of the problem, he conceded it was a worry.
``He's had an infection and it's happened a couple of times now so we are concerned by it, obviously,'' Davidson said.
Although only a remote possibility, if Ottens was to have the finger amputated he would follow a similar path to West Coast tagger Daniel Chick, who has been able to play on despite having part of his ring finger removed in 2002.
Ottens' finger injury was kept secret as the 25-year-old battled soreness throughout the latter part of last season.
Davidson said Ottens eventually had surgery on it after he went down with the groin tear against Melbourne in round 20, only to suffer another setback when the finger became infected in November and then again this month.
The re-infection is a sudden blow to the Cats as they try to rehabilitate their star 202cm forward back to health for the start of the AFL season in three month's time.
Davidson said Ottens was otherwise progressing well in his recovery from the groin tear but was unsure when he would return to normal training with the main group.
``He is running already so we'll wait to see how he progresses with that before the medical team make a decision,'' he said.
``It's a step by step thing and it was always going to take some time so we won't be rushing him back.''
If Ottens does recover in time, he would still be unlikely to see much action in Geelong's NAB Cup campaign starting on February 25 against Carlton.
Even though Ottens was sidelined for seven games altogether with the groin complaint last season, the 2001 All-Australian still played a key role for the Cats in his first year at Skilled Stadium.
He kicked 23 goals from 15 games to finish 16th in Geelong's best and fairest after crossing over from Richmond at the end of last year.
another setback for the big man! argh! this is crap!
Sarah Bieske
GEELONG'S injury woes look set to continue into the new year with news that Brad Ottens' troublesome left ring finger has become re-infected.
Cats' football manager Garry Davidson yesterday confirmed that Ottens' finger was infected for the second time since he had surgery on it late last season.
The key forward was already recovering from a serious groin tear but has had his pre-season further hampered by this latest finger drama.
It has prompted fears among the Cats' camp that Ottens' marking ability and ball-handling may be permanently affected.
It is believed the club and Ottens have considered amputation of the finger as a solution if things don't improve by the start of the season.
Although Davidson would not speculate on the severity of the problem, he conceded it was a worry.
``He's had an infection and it's happened a couple of times now so we are concerned by it, obviously,'' Davidson said.
Although only a remote possibility, if Ottens was to have the finger amputated he would follow a similar path to West Coast tagger Daniel Chick, who has been able to play on despite having part of his ring finger removed in 2002.
Ottens' finger injury was kept secret as the 25-year-old battled soreness throughout the latter part of last season.
Davidson said Ottens eventually had surgery on it after he went down with the groin tear against Melbourne in round 20, only to suffer another setback when the finger became infected in November and then again this month.
The re-infection is a sudden blow to the Cats as they try to rehabilitate their star 202cm forward back to health for the start of the AFL season in three month's time.
Davidson said Ottens was otherwise progressing well in his recovery from the groin tear but was unsure when he would return to normal training with the main group.
``He is running already so we'll wait to see how he progresses with that before the medical team make a decision,'' he said.
``It's a step by step thing and it was always going to take some time so we won't be rushing him back.''
If Ottens does recover in time, he would still be unlikely to see much action in Geelong's NAB Cup campaign starting on February 25 against Carlton.
Even though Ottens was sidelined for seven games altogether with the groin complaint last season, the 2001 All-Australian still played a key role for the Cats in his first year at Skilled Stadium.
He kicked 23 goals from 15 games to finish 16th in Geelong's best and fairest after crossing over from Richmond at the end of last year.
another setback for the big man! argh! this is crap!

