Matildas v Canada: Sam Kerr’s delicate timeline as she pushes to return 12 days after injuring calf for must-win game

It is one of the most important decisions in Australian sports history and it is likely to go down to the wire, writes ADAM PEACOCK.

Injured Australian captain Sam Kerr (L). Picture: Patrick HAMILTON / AFP.

One of the most important calls in modern Australian sport is also shaping as one of the tightest.

Trying to establish fact from fiction regarding the severity of Sam Kerr’s calf injury – and her availability for the must-win game against Canada on Monday – has been impossible with the Matildas coaching and medical staff keeping all information strictly in-house.

So if we’re going to guess, we may as well make it an educated one.

Craig Duncan, head of sports science with the Socceroos from 2014 to 2018, is at pains to point out that he, like the rest of us, has no inside information on the extent of Kerr’s calf problem.

But by the normal football playbook, Duncan told CODE Sports a calf injury was “at best it’s a 10- to 14-day injury, at worst it’s four to six weeks.”

The time between Kerr suffering her injury the day before the Ireland game to next Monday’s Canada game?

Twelve days.

Over the past week we have seen Kerr hopping when celebrating Steph Catley’s penalty against Ireland, then walking freely in the pre-game before Nigeria and blending normally into celebrations after Emily van Egmond’s goal.

Sam Kerr is in a race against time to be fit for the Matildas’ crunch game against Canada. Picture: Elsa – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images.

That could suggest Kerr’s injury is on the lighter end of the scale of calf problems.

“The first stage with any soft tissue injury is to rest and decrease the inflammation so that would primarily be work inside with physios,” Duncan told CODE Sports.

“Then when you see her walking laps at training that’s probably post that physio work inside.

“No limp and gait is fine is a good sign.”

Kerr was seen in Brisbane at training before Nigeria walking laps.

Now the process, according to Duncan’s playbook on calf strains, gets critical.

“She is at eight-nine days now so there would be strengthening work like calf raises body weight and they would be testing if she can do single leg hops and how many,” Duncan explained.

“Until she can do this without pain, there would be no running.”

Injured Australian captain Sam Kerr (L) walks with a staff member during a training session in Brisbane. Picture: Patrick HAMILTON / AFP.

Normal practice, Duncan said, would then be to jump on an anti-gravity treadmill, where athletes can run at as much as 10% of their body weight.

This process, if undertaken, would have started on Wednesday.

The next steps are key.

Running at low intensity, which is the stage of the process Kerr is at now. And then, according to Duncan, if that running is completed pain free, it’s onto the next stages.

“Working with the ball, not with the team, and then progression into team training,” Duncan continued. “That would look like starting with the warm up one day, then the next day she may do a passing drill, then the next day into contact drills.”

“Before joining the team you want her running at 90 per cent of her maximum speed at least and be able to accelerate and decelerate at high intensities prior to moving into the full unrestricted team session.”

Australia's defender #14 Alanna Kennedy (C) and injured Australia's captain Sam Kerr (2nd R) applaud the fans after their team's loss to Nigeria. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP.

Then would come the biggest test, which would be on Sunday if all is well with Kerr to that point. Thursday was game day, Friday was a recovery day for the squad and the Matildas aren’t opening training for the media on Saturday.

However, in a twist, Kerr is scheduled to speak to the media on Saturday at 1pm in Brisbane, part of a scheduled media timeslot for the Matildas who nominate two players daily.

Should all be on track, Sunday, then, will prove pivotal in the final training session before the squad travels to Melbourne to play Canada on Monday.

“You would want her to complete the game day minus one session,” Duncan said.

Those sessions aren’t long in duration – 45 minutes at most – but do have short, sharp periods of game-like intensity.

The glass half full scenario has Kerr jumping through all those stages, which would mean a return-to-play approval from the medical staff and a likely role off the bench against Canada for perhaps the biggest game in the Matildas’ history.

“Sam is such a resilient athlete, so that is a positive,” Duncan said.

“If she comes through the process, she would probably sit on the bench. Ideally, the game is won and she doesn’t need to be risked.”

There are six days between the Matildas’ game with Canada and a potential round of 16 game.

“Alternatively, you use her for 30 minutes off the bench, get her to win the game and hope she is OK and manage her for the rest of the tournament,” he said.

Originally published as Matildas v Canada: Sam Kerr’s delicate timeline as she pushes to return 12 days after injuring calf for must-win game