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Swans take care with top forward
By NIKKI TUGWELL
January 14, 2004
A SUSPECT knee that has haunted Michael O'Loughlin for 18 months will prevent him from completing a full game until round one against reigning premiers Brisbane Lions in late March.
O'Loughlin's Wizard Cup involvement will be reduced to sporadic quarters as the club delicately manages a badly torn tendon in his left knee.
Sydney are taking every precaution with O'Loughlin, contracted until 2007, after injuries deprived him of the preliminary and qualifying final, plus the opening three rounds last season.
"I've had it for a year and a bit now," the 26-year-old forward said.
"If they operated I would be out for a year so it's more a matter of managing and strengthening the leg. My hamstring and the tendinitis is fine but it's the big tear across the tendon. I missed all of last pre-season so I'm not counting my chickens.
"Round one is the aim and maybe I can get a couple of quarters in or maybe even a half a game in the Wizard Cup."
O'Loughlin's form last season defied his limited pre-season; debilitating tendinitis in his right knee forced him to miss eight weeks and he had only began running a fortnight before joining the team in round four.
Three rounds later he kicked a match-winning haul of five against Brisbane in a victory that set up the Swans' season.
O'Loughlin booted 41 goals in 16 games including two other bags of five against Carlton and Melbourne, then six against West Coast. Coach Paul Roos believes O'Loughlin would have kicked more if he had the fitness to get to more contests.
O'Loughlin tore his hamstring in the dying minutes of Sydney's last game before the finals.
"He showed again last year he can really step up and be an elite player in the competition," said Roos. "He'll be a lot more advanced going into this season compared to last given he got tendinitis this time last year."
O'Loughlin, who begins his 10th senior season after arriving in Sydney as a 17-year-old, has followed an individualised conditioning program and hopes to rejoin the main squad before the end of the month. O'Loughlin is participating in stationary handpassing and kicking.
"I've been running mainly by myself, sometimes with [rehabilitating teammate] Stephen Doyle and we sprint together but it's mostly specific needs and me doing my own thing," said O'Loughlin, who nominated a combined triple-figure return from himself and Barry Hall as a realistic target this year.
"We know teams are going to be a lot tougher and shut down not just Barry and I but [Adam] Schneider and Davo [Nick Davis] and those guys who kicked goals.
"But it would be great to replicate last year when Barry kicked about 60 and I kicked 40."
By NIKKI TUGWELL
January 14, 2004
A SUSPECT knee that has haunted Michael O'Loughlin for 18 months will prevent him from completing a full game until round one against reigning premiers Brisbane Lions in late March.
O'Loughlin's Wizard Cup involvement will be reduced to sporadic quarters as the club delicately manages a badly torn tendon in his left knee.
Sydney are taking every precaution with O'Loughlin, contracted until 2007, after injuries deprived him of the preliminary and qualifying final, plus the opening three rounds last season.
"I've had it for a year and a bit now," the 26-year-old forward said.
"If they operated I would be out for a year so it's more a matter of managing and strengthening the leg. My hamstring and the tendinitis is fine but it's the big tear across the tendon. I missed all of last pre-season so I'm not counting my chickens.
"Round one is the aim and maybe I can get a couple of quarters in or maybe even a half a game in the Wizard Cup."
O'Loughlin's form last season defied his limited pre-season; debilitating tendinitis in his right knee forced him to miss eight weeks and he had only began running a fortnight before joining the team in round four.
Three rounds later he kicked a match-winning haul of five against Brisbane in a victory that set up the Swans' season.
O'Loughlin booted 41 goals in 16 games including two other bags of five against Carlton and Melbourne, then six against West Coast. Coach Paul Roos believes O'Loughlin would have kicked more if he had the fitness to get to more contests.
O'Loughlin tore his hamstring in the dying minutes of Sydney's last game before the finals.
"He showed again last year he can really step up and be an elite player in the competition," said Roos. "He'll be a lot more advanced going into this season compared to last given he got tendinitis this time last year."
O'Loughlin, who begins his 10th senior season after arriving in Sydney as a 17-year-old, has followed an individualised conditioning program and hopes to rejoin the main squad before the end of the month. O'Loughlin is participating in stationary handpassing and kicking.
"I've been running mainly by myself, sometimes with [rehabilitating teammate] Stephen Doyle and we sprint together but it's mostly specific needs and me doing my own thing," said O'Loughlin, who nominated a combined triple-figure return from himself and Barry Hall as a realistic target this year.
"We know teams are going to be a lot tougher and shut down not just Barry and I but [Adam] Schneider and Davo [Nick Davis] and those guys who kicked goals.
"But it would be great to replicate last year when Barry kicked about 60 and I kicked 40."
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