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Leo plays in pain
07 August 2003 Herald Sun
By TIM MORRISSEY
SYDNEY defender Leo Barry spent Monday and Tuesday on crutches and will need a jab just to get on the SCG to play Hawthorn on Saturday night.
Barry calls it pain management and revealed yesterday he had been performing the routine for the past four weeks.
The 26-year-old has plantar faciitis in the heel of his left foot after coming down heavily on the hard SCG surface while trying to spoil against West Coast in Round 14.
For the first two days after a game he can't walk without crutches, nor can he play without a pain-killing injection.
Now, Barry doesn't like Mondays. But he is resigned to continue his course of pain management with the finals five weeks away and the fourth-placed Swans still a chance to finish second and earn a home final.
"It's giving me the s----," Barry said. "I'm sick of having to use crutches on a Monday morning to get around and finally back into training by the end of the week.
"But for the last four weeks I have to get a jab in the heel just to ease the pain.
"Especially on hard grounds, twisting and turning, it gets pretty sore, so I've been on a bit of pain management.
"I pulled up better after playing on the soft ground in Adelaide last Sunday, but some weeks it's better than others."
The injury also explains why Barry has had to temper his exciting high-risk style of attacking football.
This has been a good year for Barry with his explosive runs from defence igniting the Swans and inciting fans to scream "run Leo, run".
But he isn't complaining because this season he's been able to play through the pain.
Last year Barry missed nine games after he ruptured his spleen late in the Round 3 game against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
This season he's spent just 10 minutes off the ground in 18 matches.
It's a great achievement considering the ten stitches he needed to close a head wound he received in the second term of Sunday's four-point loss to the Crows accounted for eight of those minutes.
07 August 2003 Herald Sun
By TIM MORRISSEY
SYDNEY defender Leo Barry spent Monday and Tuesday on crutches and will need a jab just to get on the SCG to play Hawthorn on Saturday night.
Barry calls it pain management and revealed yesterday he had been performing the routine for the past four weeks.
The 26-year-old has plantar faciitis in the heel of his left foot after coming down heavily on the hard SCG surface while trying to spoil against West Coast in Round 14.
For the first two days after a game he can't walk without crutches, nor can he play without a pain-killing injection.
Now, Barry doesn't like Mondays. But he is resigned to continue his course of pain management with the finals five weeks away and the fourth-placed Swans still a chance to finish second and earn a home final.
"It's giving me the s----," Barry said. "I'm sick of having to use crutches on a Monday morning to get around and finally back into training by the end of the week.
"But for the last four weeks I have to get a jab in the heel just to ease the pain.
"Especially on hard grounds, twisting and turning, it gets pretty sore, so I've been on a bit of pain management.
"I pulled up better after playing on the soft ground in Adelaide last Sunday, but some weeks it's better than others."
The injury also explains why Barry has had to temper his exciting high-risk style of attacking football.
This has been a good year for Barry with his explosive runs from defence igniting the Swans and inciting fans to scream "run Leo, run".
But he isn't complaining because this season he's been able to play through the pain.
Last year Barry missed nine games after he ruptured his spleen late in the Round 3 game against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
This season he's spent just 10 minutes off the ground in 18 matches.
It's a great achievement considering the ten stitches he needed to close a head wound he received in the second term of Sunday's four-point loss to the Crows accounted for eight of those minutes.
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