AFL 2022: All the latest pre-season news at your club
Jake Lever made headlines when he collapsed and required medical attention after a training time trial. Here’s why it’s a big issue for teams trying to dethrone the premiers.
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Jake Lever was more shocked about the personal best times he ran on the two laps at Casey Fields than his fainting episode that sent a slight shock through the Melbourne camp on Monday.
The premiership defender was back at training on Wednesday and confirmed he just went too hard on his first day back, pushing himself in the kind of way that said the Demons aren’t satisfied with one flag.
Lever had to be helped from the ground after a 10-minute assessment from club medical staff when he fainted following an ill-advised attempt to get up after pushing himself through a third lap at Casey Fields.
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“The tests are designed to be pretty hard. I ran a PB (personal best) for my first two times and went a little bit hard in the first couple of runs,” Lever said after training on Wednesday morning.
“I am not the first person to faint after giving it their all and I don’t think I’m going to be the last. It was a little bit of bad luck.
“I laid down first after that third effort and when I went to get back up, I don’t think that was a very good idea, so I won’t be doing that again, that’s for sure.
“The first shock came when they read out my time for the first lap that I did. I couldn’t believe I got that fast. After that I went a little bit too hard, and it backfired a little bit.”
Lever pushing himself was indicative of the hunger that remains at the Demons following a drought-breaking premiership win over the Western Bulldogs.
Melbourne, as all premiership winners are, will be the hunted team in 2022 and Lever said the players had to rise to that challenge.
“Last year we were hunting every other team and we understood we didn’t have any right to be where we were. We were just working so hard the results were coming our way,” he said.
“It’s going to be no different next year. Teams are coming back fitter, stronger, they are going to hunt us and we are going to embrace that challenge.”
Lever also said pressure from the players who missed the grand final would ensure Melbourne didn’t get stuck in the past and kept pushing to go back-to-back.
“I know that a lot of the boys are in really good shape, and hearing from them they are in a really good spot, and probably from the guys that didn’t play, there’s a little bit of a point to prove for those guys,” he said.
“You talk about (Adam) Tomlinson, (Joel) Smith, (Jayden) Hunt, these are the guys that are coming back in really good nick and pushing the guys who played in a premiership to new limits and to new heights. It’s going to help.
“It’s great for our culture, for positions on the ground to be pushing really hard against each other. Our session today was another step in the right direction and I’m looking forward to having three weeks break, then coming back for the new year.”
Demons star goes down in bizarre training incident
- Scott Gullan, Jay Clark
Melbourne’s premiership hero Jake Lever certainly can’t be accused of resting on his laurels.
On his first day back at training the Demons defensive gun pushed himself to the limit, fainting during a running session in hot and humid conditions at Casey Fields.
Medical staff surrounded Lever for 15 minutes as he sat on the far side of the ground.
He was responsive to questions from the club doctor and eventually got to his feet, walking unassisted to the changerooms.
A club spokesman said Lever had simply “gone too hard too early”.
Given his history with knee injuries, the sight of him collapsing certainly sent a scare through the Demons camp.
Coach Simon Goodwin and head of football Alan Richardson both checked on the defender before he was sent home to rest.
The gruelling running session was the first under the eye of new high performance boss Selwyn Griffith, who has replaced renowned fitness guru Darren Burgess who moved back to Adelaide.
At Sunday’s grand final celebrations at the MCG there was some nervousness in the playing group about the return to pre-season training 24 hours later.
Midfielder Jack Viney confessed it had been a topic of conversation: “He [Griffith] wants to make his mark pretty early and he’s got us training really hard at the moment. There’s a bit of nervous energy about the (1km) time trials.”
Blow for Pies as skipper re-breaks leg
Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury has suffered a fractured leg which will sideline the brilliant onballer until next month.
The champion midfielder copped a knock to the lower part of his left leg at training on Friday, with subsequent scans showing a hairline fracture.
The injury is in a similar spot to where Pendlebury broke his leg in a game against Port Adelaide last season, ending his 2021 campaign in Round 19.
Collingwood’s games-record holder, who returned to pre-season training early last month, will have a plate inserted into his leg to help speed-up his recovery.
The 33-year-old is expected to resume training next month, meaning the injury won’t significantly impact his preparations for the 2022 season.
Collingwood football manager Graham Wright said the club wanted to be cautious with the fracture given last year’s problem.
“Although frustrating for Scott, this is a minor setback,” Wright said.
“Given his previous injury we are being cautious. He will need a minimal amount of time off his legs but will be fine to go when the program returns to training in the new year.”
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Originally published as AFL 2022: All the latest pre-season news at your club
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