Nina Morrison fourth ACL knee injury victim of AFLW season, as worrying trend continues

Research show women are up to 10 times more likely to tear their ACL than men and after Nina Morrison became the fourth knee injury victim of the AFLW season, the game faces a worrying trend.

Nina Morrison at Geelong training. Picture: Stephen Harman

An AFL-backed injury prevention program is failing to arrest alarming rates of serious breakdowns in AFLW players after rising star Nina Morrison became the fourth ACL victim this year.

Morrison, Geelong’s No.1 draft pick, was best on ground in the Cats’ one-point win over Collingwood last Saturday.

She collected 22 touches in a debut coach Paul Hood labelled “pretty special”, but ruptured her right ACL at training on Thursday night.

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Melbourne’s Shae Sloane tore her ACL in the Demons’ loss to Fremantle on Sunday while Crows ruck Rhiannon Metcalfe and Geelong defender Elise Coventry suffered the same fate on the eve of the season.

The AFL this year sent clubs a “prep to play” video and guidelines aimed at preventing injuries. The AFL says the program can help reduce ACL injuries by up to 50 per cent.

It was developed off the back of a Latrobe University ACL injury prevention program, which was in place at three Victorian clubs last season.

Emma Grant under pressure from Nina Morrison.

Players are required to do three, 30-minute sessions a week specific to the injury prevention area.

“We have implemented this program; we hope that both the players and the clubs have been adhering to it and at the moment, in this early stage of AFLW, we just have wait,” AFLW head Nicole Livingstone said.

“We have to wait to see whether or not there’ll be any more, we hope there won’t be, but I can’t guarantee that.

“We continue to implement recommendations for ACL, for pre-habilitation and it’s going to take some time to actually see that make a big difference.

“Post Round 1 of AFLW four ACLs … is not great and we’ll continue to try to make a difference.”

There were nine ACL injuries last year - 2017 No.1 draft pick Isabel Huntington among them - and eight in 2017.

Isabel Huntington injured her knee last year.

Shae Sloane is helped from the field after injuring her knee in Round 1.

At the current rate, the game can expect to lose one player a round to a severe knee injury this season. Research states women are between two and 10 times more likely to tear their ACL than men.

Western Bulldogs head of women’s football Debbie Lee said she was not shocked by the injury count.

“I support the research and the prevention programs and hopefully we see that our injuries do reduce,” Lee said.

“But I think the reality is we’re made differently so therefore we’re more prone to do knees.”

Dr Peter Brukner told the Herald Sun last year the “mechanics” of a female were one of the reasons for an increased likelihood of a serious knee injury.

“Females have a wider pelvis and therefore are more bow-legged, there is more of an inclination for their knees to fall in when they twist, so that makes them more susceptible to tearing an anterior cruciate,” Dr Brukner said.

The AFLW’s first injury report showed ACL injuries occurred at a rate of 6.47 per 1000 player hours.

In 2017 the male rate for ACL injuries was 0.7 per 1000 player hours.

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