St Bernard’s key forward Adam Campbell to miss rest of VAFA season after rupturing achilles

BOOM St Bernard’s recruit Adam Campbell is set to miss the remainder of the Victorian Amateur Football Association season after rupturing his achilles.

s43dt203 Vafa Footy Old Trinity v St Bernards in Bulleen. St Bernards coach Anthony Rock. Picture: Susan Windmiller

BOOM St Bernard’s recruit Adam Campbell is set to miss the remainder of the Victorian Amateur Football Association season after rupturing his achilles.

The former Fremantle forward had been plagued by a persistent ankle injury before linking up with the Snowdogs for 2015.

St Bernard’s coach Anthony Rock said Campbell was injured during last week’s 19-point win over Old Carey.

“Adam Campbell ruptured his achilles last week so we won’t see him again for the rest of the year,” Rock said.

“He had surgery last week, which is unfortunate for us and himself.

“We’ll see how that recovers and maybe look to the future at some point.

“He’ll get involved in some coaching capacity.”

Rock conceded Campbell’s latest setback could be related to his lengthy history of injury troubles.

“He had an ankle that we really had to manage,” he said.

“Ideally, he would have probably had more surgery, but we were hoping that he might get through the year and do that at the end.

“If he had surgery now, it was always going to be a case that he was going to miss a lot of the season, if not all of it.

“We just took that risk and unfortunately the risk didn’t pay off.”

If there is a silver lining for the Snowdogs, their forward line has been the most potent in VAFA Premier Division this year.

Surprise packet Alexander Boyse took his season tally to 24 goals after a commanding performance against Old Scotch on Saturday, while Chad Jones and Andrew Merrington have also reached double figures.

Rock said Boyse had been given the tag of “number-four man” at the club after his fifth four-goal effort in eight matches.

“We call him the number-four man now because he just kicks bags of four,” he said.

“He’s been a really good find for us in a sense that this is his first year of senior football, he’s still developing and he’s contributing.”

Jones also contributed five majors as the Snowdogs recorded a 16.17 (113) to 13.6 (84) victory over Old Scotch to sit second on the ladder behind Old Trinity.

St Bernard’s player Tom Gleeson was also prominent on debut for VFL side Coburg over the weekend, adding to the list of potential attacking weapons available to Rock’s coaching staff.

The VAFA will observe a bye this weekend, with St Bernard’s next match against reigning premier University Blacks on June 13.