Goodes' knee - suspected posterior cruciate ligament

[liz]

"Could be out for several weeks"

http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=149212

[silent lurker]

Somebody said on Big Footy that it's generally a 7-10 week injury, but I reckon it will be season ending with the medical staff we've got at this club.

[NMWBloods]

I think we'll be lucky to see Goodes again before the last third of the season.

That virtually injury-free year has caught up with us...

[Charlie]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I think we'll be lucky to see Goodes again before the last third of the season.

That virtually injury-free year has caught up with us...

Damn... that bloody law of averages!

[Mike_B]

Yep,

Last year (excluding the 2 finals) we had 11 guys play all 22 all H&A games, with 15 playing 20 or more. We used 32 players during the H&A season, with 23 of those playing more than half the games in the H&A season.

This year so far, we have used 28 players, with 16 playing all 8 games, although one could argue that to be 15 after Goodesy lasting all of 15 seconds. 5 of the 28 have played less than half our games so far.

When you look at who hasn't played a game this season and who might be able to step up, there isn't much there (names in bold are the ones I see as being able to really make a contribution):

Josh Willoughby
<b>Ben Fixter
Andrew Schauble</b>
Sean Dempster
Rowan Warfe
Daniel Hunt
Jarrad Sundqvist
Tim Schmidt
Josh Thewlis
Scott McGlone
Nick Malceski
Andrew Ericksen
James Meiklejohn
Matthew Davis
Luke Taylor
Nick Potter

Compare this with the list of players who played less than half our games last year:

Scott Stevens 10
Jarrad Sundqvist 8
Mark Powell 5
James Meiklejohn 5
Daniel McPherson 3
Stephen Doyle 2
Heath James 2
Luke Ablett 2
Brad Seymour 1
Jarrad McVeigh 0
Ben Fixter 0
Sean Dempster 0
Amon Buchanan 0
Daniel Hunt 0
Josh Thewlis 0
Scott McGlone 0
Nick Malceski 0
Ryan Crawford 0
Paul Bevan 0
Declan O'Mahoney 0

That says to me that overall we are looking to pretty much the same bunch of players as in 2003 to turn things around for us. It is also largely the same bunch of players who took us to a prelim final last year. I think most of us would agree that without having a consistent lineup week-in week-out through a season, very few teams can perform at a high standard through a season.

Make what you want of it - its not an excuse for playing badly, because there are a number of players down on last year's form, but hopefully it will provide some food for thought.

[Charlie]

Mike - you're comparing apples and oranges to a certain degree.

Players who have played less than half our games this year include O'Loughlin, Nicks, Powell, Roberts-Thomson, Buchanan and Rogers. So, include that lot in your first list - so that you're comparing the same things across the two years - and it looks considerably better.

[Mike_B]

Yep, I know, which is why I had the bit about overall, its virtually up to the same group of players as last year to turn it around for us.

[liz]

Yes and no Mike. And given that the club drafted for the "long haul" by selecting Willoughby, Erikson and Davis (and to a lesser extent Schmidt) and we didn't trade for anyone, that was pretty much inevitable.

Yet we could still see meaningful contributions from players who weren't instrumental last year. James and Bevan are the obvious ones so far this year, with McVeigh a little way behind. Doyle, Monty and Fixter (maybe) are three who we pretty much did without last year and might make some contribution this year, while LRT and Powell probably need more time but might add something this year.

[Nico]

What in the hell was Goodes doing going up against the man mountain in Cox. He was never going to beat him for the tap.

I can't believe that with a fit Ball that Roos would even think of rucking Goodes. Blind Freddy can see that Goodes is a superb option for the centre bounce takeaway rather than using a soft @@@@ like Fosdike.

Talk to oppostion supporters and they can't believe Goodes is not used as purely an old fashioned ruckrover. The media in Melbourne constantly say that he is the perfect, almost unmatcheable player for this role.

Why is it that Paul Roos is about the only person not holding this opinion, to the detriment to the team?

He wins a Brownlow, admittedly being used in the ruck at centre bounces at times, but for goodness sake we now have 2 fit ruckmen to take that role.

The team has suffered badly for the above, and now is up against it without his presence. There is every chance we would have won if Goodes played the full game.

Ironically the topic PCL's and centre bounces was debated heavily on SEN last week, with cries to change the centre bounce ruck setup due to increasingly obvious PCL injuries caused by ruckmen deliberately jumping into opposing players.

Goodes is another unnecessary statistic for mine.