Pre-pre season injuries rattle Rovers

FOOTY coaches hate player injuries in the footy season so you can imagine what they think about getting injured before the season starts.

FOOTY coaches hate player injuries in the footy season so you can imagine what they think about getting injured before the season starts. And even worse, what if the injury was the result of pretending to play footy?

That’s what happened to Wangaratta Rovers’ key player Mitch Booth when he broke his nose during filming of a promotional TV ad for the Ovens and Murray League season which opens in a couple of weeks.

Mitch was going for a “ mark” against a Wangaratta Magpies player when he copped a blow to his nose. And he’s not the first to be injured this way. Albury forward Erish Uthayakumar suffered a dislocated ankle filming for the same ad a couple of days before.

At least Mitch’s injury was not so bad to prevent him playing in the season opener. His coach Sam Carpenter said Mitch is fine and he even played a practice match against the Wodonga Raiders on the weekend. Still, Back Paddock reckons the league’s marketing people won’t be on the clubs’ Christmas card lists this year.