EDFL 2018: Moonee Valley captain Ned Wilson to miss rest of Division 2 season with knee injury

ONE of Moonee Valley’s stars will be sidelined for the rest of 2018 in a major blow to the club’s EDFL Division 2 club’s premiership ambitions.

INSPIRATIONAL Moonee Valley skipper Ned Wilson will miss the rest of the season in a hammer blow to his club’s Essendon District Football League Division 2 premiership hopes.

The star midfielder is set to undergo a knee reconstruction next week after tearing his ACL late in the third term of the Fog’s clash against East Sunbury on June 23.

Coach Shanon Carroll revealed the 2016 Division 2 league best and fairest winner remarkably played on after sustaining the injury as his side prevailed by 40 points.

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“True to Ned Wilson fashion, he strapped it up and played a whole last quarter,” Carroll said.

“If you can say it, it’s a good ACL according to the doctors. Because he’s got such strong quads, it’s purely the ACL — it’s no cartilage or anything else.

“It was just a change of direction under pressure, getting tackled from behind sort of thing.”

Wilson, who has claimed Moonee Valley’s past two best and fairest awards, is set for a recovery period of “between nine and 12 months”.

Moonee Valley captain Ned Wilson’s absence will be a hammer blow for his side’s flag hopes.

With five clubs — Roxburgh Park, Northern Saints, Coburg Districts, East Sunbury and the Fog — in flag contention, the loss of Wilson could derail his team’s campaign.

“I don’t think you can ever replace anyone like that,” Carroll said.

“There’s going to be a few more who have to give an extra 5 per cent here or there to try and cover him.

“Ned is one of those leaders that his actions speak louder than his words. In that aspect, we’re lucky we’ve got someone like Cory McGrath on board as well.

“Ned will still be involved and will still take the on-ball brigade and stoppages and help out with stuff like that at training and on game day as well.”

Moonee Valley made a blistering start to the season, winning its first five games before suffering four consecutive defeats.

The third-placed club has won its past two matches to improve its record to 7-4 and will meet Roxburgh Park in a mouth-watering fixture on Saturday.

“We’re starting to get back on track,” Carroll said.

“We did go through a pretty high training load. We dropped four games in a row and in three of them we were in front during the last quarter.

“Just a couple of 50m penalties, undisciplined things, cost us.

“We’ve addressed that now, there are punishments for that, and the boys know.

“There’s a bit of a better feeling around the club now, knowing that it was through our own fault pretty much that we dropped those games and we were to blame.”