Any updates on Heath James ?

[Hitman44]

Any furthur news on Heath James' injury ?

Has he a BURST middle ear / eardrum, if so i expect he will be missing agin for a while...

[TheHood]

Not sure about his condition, but WOW what a hit, too bad the heads clashed, because the hit showed plenty of spirit (sadly the last for the day).

I hope he's back in time for Round 1.

It looked like one of those hits on the tiny bones just under the ear around the jaw, really nasty feeling.

[sharpie]

I dont think the hit showed spirit, I think it showed stupidity. James was really nowhere near the ball and he just blindly charged in. You have to be more intelligent than that. Wade Chapman was a guy that did similar things far too often and payed the price.

[monopoly19]

Channel 10 news said he'd be out next week.

[TheHood]

Originally posted by sharpie
I dont think the hit showed spirit, I think it showed stupidity. James was really nowhere near the ball and he just blindly charged in. You have to be more intelligent than that. Wade Chapman was a guy that did similar things far too often and payed the price.

Way too harsh!

[motorace_182]

The tele said something about bursting an inner ear, i cant recall wot it exactly said, but he will be back this week or next.....There was an element of stupidity involved, but if everyone went in that hard for the fotty we would be far better off.

[Blood Bro]

Have to strongly disagree with Sharpie's comments. In no way was James' direct attack on the ball and opponent "stupid". The clash of heads was simply unlucky, and is an almost common part of Aussie Rules football. Unfortunately for James, it was a rather severe case of such. For a player of his size, such aggressiveness is of ultimate importance. His chances of playing senior football in round 1 would have been greatly diminished had he stood back and not competed in such a manner.

In relation to Chapman, the "stupidity" Sharpie refered to was unquestionably his greatest asset. Unfortunately, his body simply wasn't up to that courageous style of game, but nor was it up to the athletic style of Tadgh for example.

[Nico]

The unfortunate thing for Wade Chapman was he got his foot stood on or did an ankle right when he was blossoming into an outstanding midfielder. He didn't recover physically enough to continue at the top level.

Never forget that he was the one who moved it on quickly and passed to Plugger to win us the 1996 Prelim Final.

[sharpie]

I suppose I need some classification.

Chappie was one of my favourite players. I was shattered everytime he got injured. I loved his attack at the football. However, looking back, maybe he just didn't intelligently attack it enough.

Now as for James, I think it was good to see his commitment to the ball. But if you look at the contest closely, it looks to me as if he just charges in without considering the opposition player. Sure the head clash was unlucky, but you have to protect yourself to a certain degree.

I believe that the Swans need to be more aggressive at the ball sometimes. It is my pet hate when there are two swannies near the ball, and both of them want to provide the shepard. I think it happens to our team far too much.

But

I also hate it when three Swans defenders attempt to contest the incoming ball and no one stays on the ground waiting for the crumbs. This happened on the weekend, and does also happen from time to time.

My point: Sometimes the guys just dont use their heads (what's inside their heads, that is) enough. Paul Roos was a champion player because he was the most intelligent footballer on the park each week. We have a relatively light bunch of midfielders compared to teams like Brisbane. Therefore we have to be more intelligent about the game and each contest than our opposition.