Injured-ravaged Roos limp into condensed schedule

Injury-struck AFL teams will be racing the clock with player availability now one of the most valuable commodities in the game

Kangaroos skipper Jack Ziebell leads his team off Metricon Stadium after losing to Richmond Picture: Michael Klein

As the most frantic period of AFL football in history looms and clubs wrestle with how best to rest players, injury-struck teams will be racing the clock, with player availability one of the most valuable commodities in the game.

One Collingwood star says fitness staff “will earn their keep” as they attempt to navigate the next month. But for some clubs, the hit has already been harsh to bear.

North Melbourne’s injury list is longer than any club, with Champion Data statistics revealing that the Roos have lost almost five times the amount of games to injury than the least-affected team after eight rounds, St Kilda.

Fremantle, Essendon, Carlton and Sydney have also been heavily affected, but less than half of the Bombers’ “games lost” have been to their best team.

While Richmond is hoping to have skipper Trent Cotchin and Dion Prestia, David Astbury and Toby Nankervis back in coming weeks, the team has been largely unscathed, with only 10 games “lost” through injury to its best side.

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But in a further blow to the Roos, 51 of the 73 games that have been lost to injury this season have been to the team’s best 22, which is calculated based on the best 22 players available.

Roos skipper Jack Ziebell was dealt a further hamstring blow this week and will miss at least a month which, under the adjusted schedule, could result in as many as six games.

But he was strong in his defence of the club’s medical team.

“We do strength measures and footy-specific stuff as well, and people may not realise the depth that medical teams go,” Ziebell said. “Top-end speed is one critical measure, and I hit that in the three sessions before the game.

“I feel for those guys (the medical team) as they will unfairly be lumped with a bit of pressure.”

Collingwood star Taylor Adams said teams would have to have “a squad mentality” as teams grapple with how to best manage the next month, with the Pies set to play four games within 15 days.

“(When the fixture was released) I said to Kev White, who’s our head of strength and fitness, that he’s going to earn his keep now,” Adams said on RSN.

“There’s going to be a high rotation of players. We’re going to have to have a squad mentality. We’re going to have to have guys come in, guys go out when they’re not right to play. Everyone’s going to have to buy in.”

But he still wants to try and play every game.

“I’ll be trying to put my hand up for every game,” he said.

“If I do end up getting a tap on the shoulder from Kevvie or the coaching staff, I won’t turn my toes up and throw my toys out of the cot.”

Herald Sun