Dane Rampe cops eye injury to add to Sydney’s injury woes
The Swans’ injury nightmare has gone from bad to worse with in-form defender Dane Rampe ruled out of this weekend’s Sydney derby against the Giants after an unlucky incident.
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Rampe’s freak blow to the eye has left the Sydney Swans haemorrhaging and staring down the barrel of a derby Bloodbath at Giants Stadium.
The Swans put a few cricket scores on GWS back during little brother’s fledgling years, but on Saturday it’s Sydney who have been decimated of all experience and at least on paper, look like being thrown to the wolves.
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Rampe is arguably the AFL’s premier key defender, and losing him due to bleeding on the eye threatens to open up the floodgates in a match-up with the competition’s leading goal-kicker, Jeremy Cameron.
When coach John Longmire revealed yesterday that co-captain Rampe had been ordered to rest following a freakish incident against Geelong on Sunday where he copped a ball to the eye, it represented the final straw in an unmitigated injury crisis for the Swans.
Sydney have battled bravely all year with Lance Franklin and a host of top line stars routinely on the sidelines, but they couldn’t lose a more important player at this stage than All-Australian bound Rampe.
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Giants forward Cameron has endured some memorable battles with Rampe over the years, but now the AFL’s Coleman Medal leader has a golden opportunity to add to his imposing tally of 57 goals.
Longmire also reported the loss of Irishman Colin O’Riordan to a groin injury, with all this coming on top of already being without the likes of Franklin, Will Hayward, Harry Cunningham and Jarrad McVeigh.
Sydney captain Luke Parker as one of the last men standing, admits the Swans must summon every ounce of its famous Bloods culture to overcome the loss of Rampe.
The Giants turned their season around two weeks ago with its entire leadership base out, and Parker says the Swans young guns must do something similar — only without any incentive to play finals football
“It’s (a huge blow) but the way we’ve got to look at it, is it gives the boys an opportunity to really lift in that area,” said Parker.
“You look at Millsy (Callum Mills) and guys like that, their leadership has gone to another level this year and we look at it as an opportunity. The Giants were similar the other week playing Collingwood with probably not one leader out there and started really well. It’s a great opportunity for the boys to pick up what Ramps leaves.”
Longmire is also refusing to concede defeat against the Giants rampant forward line of Cameron, Jeremy Finlayson and Harry Himmelberg.
“No question they’ve got a versatile tall marking forward line but we’ll work through that and what that looks like, we’ll work through that today,” said Longmire.
“We’re confident we’ll be able to work through some solutions to that and provide some options.
“Our reserves were quite competitive on the weekend, even though they had low numbers against a Brisbane reserves team that were full strength.
“We think we can get some players in, we’ll have to reshuffle a little bit. And what that looks like we’ll work through as the week progresses.”
Sydney’s biggest wins over GWS include a 129-point drubbing in 2013, and 94 and 89 point triumphs.
GWS have never put 50 points on their arch rivals.
Sydney will also be without Sam Naismith, with Longmire admitting it’s too soon to rush the big ruckman back in after just one match back in the NEAFL.
Giants coach Leon Cameron hinted at changing his recent pattern of going in with two ruckmen, with Dawson Simpson potentially facing the prospect of being rotated out of the side.
In contrast to the Swans’ blow in Rampe is the fact GWS are revelling in the strength of their key backmen Nick Haynes and Phil Davis — who were enormous in last weekend’s win over Port Adelaide.
Originally published as Dane Rampe cops eye injury to add to Sydney’s injury woes
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