With four Crows going down to serious knee injuries in only three weeks, Adelaide Oval has backed its playing surface
Adelaide Oval defends its playing surface after a spate of four serious knee injuries to Crows players in three weekends assports medico Dr Peter Larkins also points finger at bad luck.
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An Adelaide Oval official has defended the venue’s playing surface, saying it is in excellent condition and not responsible for the recent spate of serious knee injuries.
In three weeks, four Crows players have suffered serious knee injuries: three players have ruptured their anterior cruciate ligaments — Tom Doedee in AFL round one and Erin Phillips and Chloe Scheer in Sunday’s AFLW grand final — and on Thursday night Paul Seedsman hyper-extended his left knee in the last quarter of the Crows 24-point loss to Geelong and while scans have cleared him of an ACL, he injured his capsular and bone structures, which could take between four-to-six weeks to heal.
Adelaide Oval’s general manager of operations and commercial, Darren Chandler said the playing surface was outstanding.
“The Adelaide Oval surface hasn’t changed at all when compared with last or any previous seasons,” he said.
“Our grounds team, led by Damian Hough, inspect the turf daily to ensure it is within AFL specifications and are also on the ground every quarter of an AFL game to monitor and repair any divots.
“Our playing surface is currently in outstanding condition and, in our opinion, compares very favourably with any comparable ground in the nation.”
Crows general manager of football operations Phil Harper agreed that there was no real concern from the club over the standard of the grass.
“You would have a look at it, but I think it’s a pretty good surface,” he said.
“I know they play a lot of different (sports) on it, but (the women in particular) have played on a hell of a lot worse surfaces than Adelaide Oval.”
Top sports medico Dr Peter Larkins says the Adelaide Oval playing surface should not be blamed for the spate of serious knee injuries which has claimed four Crows players in 13 days, including three this week.
“I wouldn’t be pointing the finger too much at the stadium surface, I think at this stage we’ve got to say that it’s just bad luck,’’ said Larkins, who is one of Australia’s most senior specialist sports physicians.
Long-kicking wingman Paul Seedsman was Adelaide's latest casualty on Thursday night when he hurt his left knee when he landed awkwardly in a marking contest against Geelong.
Initially feared to have suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, scans revealed no tear but “a significant injury to the capsular and bone structures’’.
His injury, which could sideline him for months, followed torn ACL’s to Crows women’s players, superstar Erin Phillips, and Chloe Scheer in the AFLW grand final against Carlton last Sunday.
Men’s defender Tom Doedee started the shocking trend for Adelaide against Hawthorn in round one on March 23 when he shredded his left knee while attempting a tackle and was ruled out for the season.
“I wouldn’t be writing that story with that headline, blaming Adelaide Oval, unless we get to mid-year and we have six more (serious knee injuries) there,’’ Larkins told The Advertiser.
“You can’t just look at the ground’s supposed hardness because there are 10 ways you can do an ACL and the Crows injuries this season are all very different.
“That tells me that it is just a case of plain bad luck, not the result of the surface.’’
Dual AFLW best and fairest winner Phillips blew her left knee out when she tried to change direction while chasing an opponent while Scheer’s injury occurred when she was tackled and twisted her planted right knee.
Phillips and Scheer had previously had their other knees reconstructed.
“From what I’ve seen they’ve all been different mechanisms,’’ Larkins said of Adelaide’s horror knee injury run.
“There’s been the falling across the leg, the change of direction, the chase by someone and then the hyperextension.
“That suggests it has nothing to do with ground hardness.’’
Larkins said AFL medical staff had long examined the hardness of ground surfaces and noted how a section of Western Australia’s Subiaco Oval was once labelled “wounded knee’ because of the spate of knee injuries there in the 1990s.
“Over the years we’ve looked at the stadiums all around the country and Subiaco Oval used to be top of the table when it came to knee injuries,’’ he said.
“There was a part of Subiaco called ‘wounded knee’ because the AFL had a run of about 20 ACL’s in 12 months and half were at Subiaco.
“That was largely because they had the wrong turf grass, couch, which doesn’t have as much give in it and your foot can get stuck when changing direction, instead of rye.
“The rye-grass combination is used at most grounds now (including Adelaide Oval).’’
Larkins said history showed there were always more serious knee injuries early in a season because of the frenetic nature of the sport and that bodies were still coming to terms with the increase in tempo that could not be replicated in pre-season games.
He said statistics showed women were also 10 times more likely to tear an ACL then men in Australian football because of their genetic make-up.
“Women have different shaped knees to men, the ligaments stretch more,’’ he said.
In Phillips and Scheer’s cases, Larkins said the fact that they had already had knee reconstructions would have contributed to their latest setbacks.
“People who have had a serious knee injury are two-to-three times more likely to suffer an injury to their other knee in the same sport because there is a tendency for them to be over protective of their previously damaged knee and to put more pressure on the good knee,’’ he said.
CROWS’ TALE OF WOE
Dr Peter Larkins’ verdict on Adelaide’s four horror knee injuries
TOM DOEDEE
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in left knee against Hawthorn in round one
“It was the sideways movement in the twist that caused the rupture. Tom went to tackle (Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughead) and his left leg didn’t move with the rest of his body and the ACL suffered a serious twist. There might have also been another little knock in that incident that caused the medial stress on the lower leg.’’
CHLOE SCHEER
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in right knee against Carlton in AFLW grand final
“Having previously had her left knee reconstructed there was a two-to-three times greater chance of Chloe hurting her other knee. That comes down to genetics and the fact that she would unwillingly have put more pressure on her good knee. In Chloe’s case she was tackled heavily and her knee buckled under her and the pressure forced the ACL to twist.’’
ERIN PHILLIPS
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in left knee against Carlton in AFLW grand final
“To a medical eye it was immediately obvious what Erin had done. Her left leg planted and then pivoted when she tried to change direction, like a corkscrew mechanism where the femur bone twists on the tibia. It’s like wringing out a wet towel. The ACL gets twisted in a rotation, resulting in the rupture.’’
PAUL SEEDSMAN
Injured capsular and bone structure in left knee against Geelong in round three.
“Looking at the incident, Paul was exceptionally lucky to avoid a torn ACL, but it’s still a significant injury. He suffered a significant hyperextension of his knee when he landed from a marking contest and often in these cases the femur and tibia bones act like a guillotine and slice through the ACL. From the way the Crows have described the injury, he’s torn the external ligaments, the capsules, and suffered severe bone bruising, which can take several months to resolve.’’
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