Gold Coast midfielder Michael Barlow has had surgery to repair broken leg

GOLD Coast’s Michael Barlow has undergone successful surgery on his broken leg and will miss the rest of the 2017 season but the news isn’t as bad as it could have been for the midfielder.

Michael Barlow is stretchered from the field during the last quarter of Gold Coast’s loss. Picture: Getty

GOLD Coast are bracing for a leadership vacuum of several weeks before veteran Michael Rischitelli is ready to return and fill the hole left by Michael Barlow.

The Suns NEAFL side had the bye on the weekend, which robbed Rischitelli of the chance to gain more valuable match fitness.

He has played just a half of footy since returning from a knee reconstruction.

Michael Barlow was in severe pain on the ground after breaking his leg. Picture: Getty

Barlow had screws inserted into a broken fibula yesterday morning and was released from hospital later in the day.

The 29-year-old was stretchered off Metricon Stadium in the final quarter of Gold Coast’s 10-point loss to Carlton on Saturday night.

Coach Rodney Eade said the injury to Barlow did not provide justification for the poor way the Suns finished the game but said it was hard to discount it as the reason.

“There is no excuse to what happened after that, but it seemed to be that was a pivotal point,’’ he said.

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“For whatever reason they were able to re-energise and we dropped away.’’

Barlow spent the night in hospital and was operated on at 9am yesterday. The recovery time is three months.

Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft said the midfielder’s injury was a huge blow to the club and the player who had been a “terrific addition” to the club this year.

Michael Barlow is stretchered from the field during the last quarter of Gold Coast’s loss. Picture: Getty

He said the leadership Barlow had added to the side in his 11 games would be missed.

However, he said a break to the left fibula was a better outcome than the tibia, which would have had more serious implications for his future.

“It was a shocking thing to have happen to Mick but on the scale of the potential outcomes from an incident like that, a broken fibula is the more preferable one,’’ he said.

“He’ll be out for 12 months and ready to start running on day one of pre-season.”

Originally published as Gold Coast midfielder Michael Barlow has had surgery to repair broken leg