Spate of ACL injuries in AFLW causes concern for league boss Gillon McLachlan

LEAGUE boss Gillon McLachlan says four ACL injuries in as many AFLW rounds is a concern, but he hopes the number will drop as player conditioning develops.

LEAGUE boss Gillon McLachlan believes the recent spate of ACL injuries in the women’s competition will drop as player conditioning develops.

Collingwood rookie Kate Sheahan and Giant Mai Nguyen are the most recent casualties to fall to ACL ruptures, with the four weeks of women’s matches resulting in four season — and in some cases, career — ending injuries.

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Giant Mai Nguyen is among four AFLW players to have suffered ACL injuries in the first four weeks of the season. Picture: Getty Images

And while McLachlan noted it is “a physical game” by nature, he thinks numbers will drop.

“It is (a concern), but I think the context is the step up and the short period of conditioning to do that,” McLachlan said yesterday.

“The incidence of knee injuries for men is significantly higher at the start of the season because it’s the fastest they’ve come in and they’re the fittest and freshest.

“I think that it will be mitigated when the women have a second year of conditioning and are better able to deal with it.”

A number of AFL Women’s players also suffered the injury during preseason training.

Studies in other sports have shown that women are structurally predisposed to suffering such an injury, with some research suggesting females are between two and eight times more likely than male counterparts to injure the anterior cruciate ligament.

League boss Gillon McLachlan hopes the incidence of ACL injuries in AFLW will fall as the players become fitter. Picture: Sarah Matray

Collingwood team doctor Chris Bradshaw said on the weekend that a woman’s biomechanics and structural allowances for child birth can increase stress on the legs and predispose females to more injuries, particularly in those not accustomed to or conditioned to “the new and intense demands of the game”.

Western Bulldogs star Aasta O’Connor — who has previously suffered an ACL rupture — said yesterday that the age and experience of Sheahan and Olympic javelin thrower and Docker Kim Mickle, who has also suffered the injury, should be taken into account.

“In two of those four cases, they’re 30 to 35-plus (aged) athletes who haven’t played an invasion sport — a tennis player and a javelin thrower,” O’Connor said at a Melbourne Press Club event.

“For a list manager now, in year two or three, are you looking at those types, or are you bringing in a 17-year-old or 21-year-old netballer where potentially their case study is long-term conditioning in their bodies and getting them ready to go?.”

Bulldog Aasta O’Connor has suffered an ACL injury before and say age and experience are a big factor. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Melbourne yesterday elevated midfielder Elise Strachan to their squad due to a growing injury list which includes Pepa Randall (ankle), Meg Downie (hamstring), Stephanie De Bortoli (achilles) and Brooke Paterson (hamstring).

And the Demons are backing calls for AFLW player list sizes to be upped next year.

Clubs were able to list only 28 players in the inaugural season of the competition this season but Melbourne women’s operations manager Debbie Lee said she believed that would change in 2018.

“It’s obvious that the squads need to be increased and I think the AFL have confidence in what they’ve seen and they’ll do that,” Lee said.

AFL general manager of game development Simon Lethlean told the Herald Sun last week that list sizes would form part of a post-season review.

“We’ll certainly look at it and it might be that we add two or three or four to each team’s list next year if we can find a way to do so,” Lethlean said.

An AFL spokesman said the league will continue to monitor research in the area of and — like the men’s competition — will conduct an annual injury survey of AFLW players to “identify trends, inform areas for future research and provide information to guide laws of the game discussions”.

Kate Sheahan’s career could be over after her shocking knee injury. Picture: AAP