Sydney co-captain Dane Rampe to miss rest of 2020 season after re-breaking his hand
Sydney star Dane Rampe has been ruled out for the rest of the season after re-breaking his hand, but mystery surrounds how the incident occurred. Could it have been caused by Jake Carlisle when he targeted him?
Sydney
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Dane Rampe knew from the moment he broke his hand the first time, that it might become a target.
The question now is, did St Kilda’s Jake Carlisle hit the bullseye?
Rampe will miss the rest of the season after scans revealed he has re-broken the hand he fractured against Hawthorn back in Round 8, dislodging the metal plate that he had screwed in place to repair it.
Five days after he had the initial surgery, Rampe bravely backed up to play against St Kilda only to have his hand deliberately attacked by Carlisle in one of the ugliest incidents of the AFL season.
Carlisle escaped with just a $500 fine for his targeted assault at Rampe’s sore hand, which was condemned by ex-greats as a shocking look for the game.
It might have been a fortnight ago, but there are some now privately wondering whether it was this cheap shot from Carlisle that has ended – or at least contributed to ending – the Swans’ captain’s 2020 campaign.
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After facing St Kilda, Rampe played two subsequent matches against Collingwood and GWS where damage could have also been caused. But it’s understood the Swans skipper can’t remember copping another significant hit to his glove-protected hand since his run-in with Carlisle.
Mystery surrounds how the re-break has occurred given Rampe only experienced the renewed pain and swelling in his hand this week – prompting a fresh scan which confirmed season-ending surgery.
At the time of the initial operation, Rampe’s surgeon was confident the plate would hold in place.
“All he said was he screwed it in pretty well and nothing is moving it,” Rampe said three weeks ago.
Rampe’s reputation as one of the AFL’s true tough men has only been enhanced by news of the re-break, and Swans coach John Longmire admits the star defender was still willing to soldier on.
“He’s too important to us to keep playing. To put any sort of risk to that hand,” said Longmire on Tuesday.
“It got to the point where once we found out the news on the scan, the decision (was) made for us.
“We weren’t going to take any more risks with Dane. He’s just too important. AS tough as what he is – he even indicated that he’d like to play again this week even knowing that news – (but) we just couldn’t go ahead with that because we had to make sure we protect him.”
Aliir Aliir is set to come back in as a straight swap for Rampe after missing last week’s clash against the Giants through his own injury.
Longmire lamented the ever-growing extent of his side’s brutal injury toll.
“It‘s obviously very important that he gets that right now. It’s really unfortunate, I think that’s our ninth player ruled out for the season, and he’s one of our most important players and our co-captain,” he said.
“I believe Dane was in All-Australian form this year. You don’t replace him, you work around that.”
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