Lara forward Mitch Day breaks thumb in seven-point win over St Albans

A star GFNL forward could be out for the rest of the season after suffering an early injury in his team’s second win for the year.

Lara’s Devon Smith played his first GFNL game since early June. Picture: Mark Wilson

Lara’s second win for the season has been soured by a potentially season-ending broken thumb to key forward Mitch Day.

Day and Tom Gunther combined for seven of the Cats’ eight goals as they beat St Albans by seven points in a low scoring affair on Saturday, 8.8 (56) to 7.7 (49).

It comes as Lara co-coach Devon Smith made a spectacular return to the field for his first game since early June, despite still carrying a quad injury, in a BOG display.

However, Smith said Day could be out for the season after breaking his thumb in the second term.

“Mitch Day broke his thumb pretty badly ... that hurt us a fair bit because he was really dominating the game,” Smith said.

“He toughed it out ... (but) he needs to get surgery.

“I’m not sure how long that will be, thumbs can be interesting, I’ve broken my thumb a few times, one time it was four weeks, one time it was three months.”

Lara’s Mitch Day broke his thumb early in the game. Picture: Mark Wilson

Meanwhile, Smith said he will take a month-long break from golf, allowing him to focus more on football.

“It works out well,” Smith said.

“I’m pretty happy to put myself out there and know I won’t be able to walk Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week but I don’t have to play golf, it takes a little bit of that stress away.”

Smith said he used his left foot to kick on Saturday and admitted he was not at 100 per cent.

“My knees are a bit swollen, I’m not used to the hard grounds to be honest,” he said.

“But it was a game I was always going to get up for, I was really keen to play that game.

“Unfortunately we’ve got a few injuries, it’s my first ever game with our captain Billy Goodwin, first win I’ve played in for a while at the club.

St Albans’ Zac Larkins tries to pressure Devon Smith. Picture: Mark Wilson

“To actually got out there and kick it with the left and make some pretty good decisions, I was pretty lucky big Ryan Bell was feeding it pretty well at the centre clearance.

“His ruck work was really really good.

“I was meant to have a rest, I think I played the whole game on ball.

“In an ideal world I think I’d just play forward but we’ve got a few troops that are out.”

Those injuries including a foot issue for Aaron Stone who will have it checked out in coming days.

“It’s not looking great for him,” he said.

“My whole time at the club, we really can’t catch a break with injuries.”

Jacob Whitfield celebrates a goal with his St Albans teammates. Picture: Mark Wilson

Despite keeping the Supersaints scoreless in the second term, Smith praised their effort to stay in the contest.

“I thought their captain (Jacob Russell) was outstanding, he tried all day for them,” he said.

“It was a close game, I was exhausted by the end.

“It was a scrappy game, wouldn’t have been a great game to watch to be honest, but to their credit they chipped away all day.”

Enjoying its second win for the season after beating Grovedale by 34 points in Round 3, the Cats will now turn their attention to North Shore next Saturday who beat them by 31 points in Round 1.

Originally published as Lara forward Mitch Day breaks thumb in seven-point win over St Albans