MPFNL: Training concussion sidelines Mornington coach Josh Newman

Mornington playing-coach Josh Newman has given an update on his playing status after a concussion during a “fun’’ training drill.

Mornington playing-coach Josh Newman. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Not a lot has gone right for Josh Newman and his Bulldogs at the start of the 2024 season.

The Mornington playing-coach was concussed at training a few weeks ago and was forced to sit out the Bulldogs’ opening round loss to Pines on Saturday.

“The symptoms hung around a little bit longer than I would have liked,” Newman said.

Abiding by the new 21-day concussion protocol, Newman missed by two days to be eligible to play.

But he hopes to return this week for the Bulldogs’ clash with Rosebud, providing he gets the all-clear.

“As long as I get through the contact training with no issues I’ll be back in this week,” he said.

Newman revealed he was concussed during a “fun” handball drill at training last month.

“It was self inflicted,” he quipped.

“I actually planned a bit of a fun connection night…playing some fun games and one of them was a little handball game.

“One of the young guys CJ Small, he’s a solid young guy, he got me holding the ball…so I thought I’d chase him down and get him back. I came in hot from behind to try and get him back…and he turned at the last minute and I just ran straight into his shoulder and gave myself a decent concussion.

“Poor CJ was shattered and felt really bad but it was definitely 100 percent self inflicted that one.”

Josh Newman kicks a goal in last season’s MPFNL Division 2 grand final. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Mornington defender Lachlan Susovich was also concussed during Saturday’s 24-point loss to Pines and will sit out for 21 days.

Newman said it was disappointing to lose in round one after his players did so much work over the pre-season.

“We understand that we’re up in Division 1 now and that was probably evident yesterday, the difference between Division 2 and Division 1 is that you can’t take your foot off the pedal or lapse for any periods of time,” he said.

“Pines just outplayed us well and truly in the second quarter and that was probably the game in the end, they kicked five to our one in the second quarter and then we matched it with them for the rest of the day.

“Pines at Pines is always a hard game and it’s probably a good lesson and a good first test for us coming up against a really mature, big bodied, strong Division 1 side. We take a lot of learnings out of it and we can take that into the next few weeks which is great.”