AFL finals 2020: Keep up to date with the latest injury news
Geelong skipper Joel Selwood is racing to be fit for Saturday’s semi-final after having surgery on his badly injured finger. But one medical expert says the Cats took a chance by putting their star under the knife.
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Geelong and Joel Selwood have “rolled the dice” with his finger surgery according to a medical expert, as he took the first steps towards proving his fitness for Saturday night’s cutthroat semi-final.
Just three days on from surgery, his left middle finger was heavily strapped as Selwood ran laps and performed some light kicking at training on Monday.
Friday’s final training session looms as the fitness test for the skipper.
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Should he fail to get up for the game, he will not be replaced by Jack Steven, who has been ruled out.
Selwood appeared clearly mindful about using his left hand when kicking at training and regularly caught the ball with just his right hand, but showed no discomfort with his normal technique.
The procedure Selwood underwent on Friday night cut into the middle knuckle on the finger to stabilise it after it was dislocating without warning during the flight from Adelaide to Brisbane.
Dislocated fingers aren’t rare in football according to medical expert Dr Peter Larkins, but those that require surgery generally take about three weeks of recovery.
Dr Larkins said normally a player could play with a dislocated finger with strapping and a glove, but the need for surgery indicated that this was clearly a more severe case.
“Given that they made this decision (to have surgery), they didn’t think (strapping it up) was a possible way to go, so they have really rolled the dice,” he said.
“If it is just a severe dislocation without any worries about a fracture, you are having to do a reconstruction of the joint and they take weeks before they settle down.
“The long finger is really important for making a fist and gripping like tackling somebody or handling the ball, so it will be an extraordinary performance for him to play.”
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Geelong footy boss Simon Lloyd said Selwood would do whatever it took to get up for the semi-final.
“We know what his mental fortitude is like, so he will give himself every opportunity to play this weekend and he will test it out fully come Friday this week,” Lloyd said.
Steven had loomed as a likely in to replace Selwood, but he has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain.
The midfielder sat out the closing stages of the club’s scratch match on Saturday with hamstring tightness and scans on Monday revealed a strain.
The club is yet to put a line through Steven for the season, but he faces a tough task returning should Geelong make a deep run in finals.
“Jack was playing very well and unfortunately he had a small hamstring strain, so that will rule him out for this week,” Lloyd said.
“It was unfortunate because Jack had been going so, so well. We expect him to do his rehab and recover as quickly as he can.”
DUNCS BACKS IN SELWOOD
Geelong’s Mitch Duncan said he has no doubt his champion skipper, Joel Selwood, would lead his side out in this week’s semi-final.
“(Selwood has) been through a lot in his time and he’s obviously a great player and a really important player for us and I’m sure he will do everything right to be ready to play,” Duncan said.
“Even if it wasn’t Joel, I would say most players would be doing everything they can to be playing in a final. It is Joel (and) he will play I would have thought.”
Selwood played through the pain on Thursday night against Port Adelaide but only registered one possession in what would prove to be a decisive third term.
Without their leader having an impact, the Cats couldn’t stop the Power momentum during the telling period and fell to a 16-point loss.
The loss left Geelong with just a 25 per cent winning record in finals since its 2011 premiership but Duncan said he didn’t feel the pressure building up on the club.
“We don’t think about it, obviously we want to get better and win finals,” he said.
“You can’t stress about it too much because it will obviously get stuck in your head so we are staying free and relaxed and knowing that when the ball is bounced you are giving maximum effort and adhering to what we are about.”
It comes as serial offender Tom Hawkins was desperately lucky to avoid suspension after being offered a $1500 fine for a strike that dropped Port Adelaide’s Tom Rockliff.
Hawkins threw his arm back and flushed Rockliff, dropping him to the ground before he spent some time holding his nose and assessing the damage with a trainer.
The MRO decided the incident was a careless, low-impact strike after assessing the impact and a medical report.
The hit needed only to be medium impact or an intentional strike for him to miss his second finals game in as many years after missing the preliminary final last year.
In late July, Hawkins had a one-week ban overturned at the tribunal after he threw back his elbow and caught Fremantle’s Luke Ryan in the neck and chest.
The Cats were able to argue Hawkins hit Ryan in the collarbone, rather than the neck, which would have seen him miss a week of suspension.
MARSHALL INJURY SHOULD BE MANAGEABLE
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Port Adelaide are confident Todd Marshall’s shoulder injury can be managed through the rest of the finals series as assistant coach Brett Montgomery continued the praise for the courage shown by the “special” young key forward.
Marshall’s night in the qualifying final against Geelong on Thursday looked to be over just as soon as it began when he landed on his shoulder and hurt the AC joint in the first quarter of the match.
But the 21-year-old returned to the field and while the pain limited him to just the three disposals, he kicked a clutch fourth-quarter sealer to help Port Adelaide into the preliminary final.
After the game, Ken Hinkley said it was a remarkable effort given the pain Marshall was in.
“Todd Marshall is a special person, a special player who just had to hang in for us tonight,” he said.
“He had a really, really sore shoulder, but to stay out there and then take that clutch shot and to be able to finish it, I’m so proud of Todd to be honest.”
Marshall underwent scans on his injured right shoulder on Friday, but Port Adelaide won’t know the severity of the knock until Monday.
Montgomery said he was confident the injury could be managed for the preliminary final in a fortnight’s time.
“He’s sore and it was an enormous effort to get up and play,” he said.
“We know if you go one down in those contests it can be very difficult to even hang in there.
“So, (it was) a huge amount of sacrifice and grit from Todd.
“(The) early indicators are that it is something that we can manage, we are two or three days away from getting clarity.”
Hinkley has consistently spoken of his admiration for Marshall, who lost both his parents within months of each other at just 19-years-old.
Montgomery said that admiration and love was also prevalent among the playing group.
“There is a lot of goodwill and incredible amount of sentiment for Todd,” he said.
“Todd is a really special person and a really special teammate.
“He is a very loveable sort of a character and when things aren’t going well for him, through injury or form, we are all hurting.
“He is going to be an incredible player.”
While Marshall was able to finish the game, Xavier Duursma was distraught at three-quarter-time when told he would not be able to continue after suffering a heavy head knock in a contest with Geelong’s Mark Blicavs.
Montgomery said he was confident Duursma would pass the concussion protocols for the preliminary final and lauded the bravery of the young wingman.
“It just permeates throughout the group,” he said.
“He does it week in, week out.”
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