What action can we as fans take re. injuries?

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

[stui magpie]

Here's the injury list as of a week ago, both guys with hamstrings played on the weekend.

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/season/injury-list

I'd love for anyone to explain how the training and conditioning staff could prevent Swannie's foot injury, Elliot's genetic back issue, concussions and knee injuries.

[RudeBoy]

Varcoe is the only player with a soft tissue injury.

All the rest are the result of trauma incidents, all unrelated to fitness.

Davoren gets a big tick from me. Seriously, this is the most ridiculous thread ever posted on Nicks.

[nomadjack]

Sadly it's not RB...probably not even top 20...😨

[RudeBoy]

[5150]

[John Wren]

^ what kind of partition? like the one trump wants to build? a partition would be useful at times.

[piepower]

[5150]

[Cam]

I think with the Bulldogs its those lady physios. Too much stress on other parts of the body when getting a rubdown.

[bally12]

Hypothetical:

What if Collingwood's issues weren't at all related to Buckley's coaching, game-plan, player talent, internal rifts, or management at the Board level.

What if predominantly our problem is a disastrous fitness program.
Let's look at the evidence for the latter:

- During Davoren's time at the Pies, his 2 yrs have resulted in an almost identical dramatic performance slide in the second half of the season, after an 8-3 start.

- Our players look undeniably weaker than opposition players. When Davoren spoke at one of the end-of-year forums, he mentioned that he will move away from a weight-based strengthening program to one more "functional based". He didn't go into further details on what this means.

- Together with Richmond, our players seem like they don't have the running power to play fast-break football. This is despite Buckley emphasing from 2 yrs ago that he plans to implement a fast transition team.
It's important to note Davoren was a triathlon coach. Nothing explosive/anaerobic or any stop/start aspects with that sport.

- Decimation of our playing list due to injuries, including one (Freeman) who left the club in desperation, as a result of perceived mis-management by the fitness staff. This is a quite extraordinary situation.
Ben Kennedy when interviewed made mention that he feels he has never felt fitter or stronger after a preseason with Melbourne.

Other notable soft-tissue injuries in the last 2 yrs have included:
Marsh - severe hamstring tear, now recurring
Moore - significant hamstring tear, seems to have recovered well (touch wood).
Elliott - hamstring, now back.
Toovey - hamstring.
Reid - recurring calf, hamstring.
Sinclair - recurring hamstring.
Swan - hamstring (first ever in his life in 2014).
Clinton Young - recurring hamstring, career cut short.
Varcoe - hamstring.

Although the cause of ACL injuries is debatable, there are certainly preventative measures recommended by many medical experts. Most revolve around leg strength (includes plyometric training) and landing technique (bent knee, landing on your toes/midfoot to absorb impact). There's also a theory that muscle fatigue can be a contributor to this injury, as the muscles cannot absorb enough of the shock, loading the ACL joint. Recent ACL's:
Scharenberg
Ramsay
McCaffer

Before the usual suspects on here gang up and start flaming, I cannot claim that any of the above thoerising is accurate as I am not privy to any details relating to the Pies' training program. I"m just suggesting on the external evidence available, that possibly the fitness program needs some scrutiny and may be contributing to players' injuries and performance. It will also be interesting to see if at year's end Davoren's contract is extended. I know where my money will be on this one.

Lastly, if I see that Seedsman is able to put on any bit of muscle at Adelaide (after about 5yrs trying to do so at the Pies), I'll go nuts. Happy to say that as of last week, nothing has changed on this front.

[RudeBoy]

If your Aunty had wheels.....

[Redlight]

[Brown26]

I think if you look at the list profile and injury history of all the AFL clubs you'll see that younger teams (of which we are one, just to remind you) seem to have more but less serious / long term injuries, and teams with more 24-28 year olds (matured, hardened players with more pre seasons) seem to have less injuries, then the injuries mount up again as your team gets older, into the 30+ age group, but the injuries seem to be more mid to longer term ie. Swannies foot, Bucks "back related hamstring", Maxwells ankle etc.

This doesn't mean that only young players get soft tissue injuries and only older players get severe injuries because some players will just be more injury prone and others will have bad luck. The teams with so many injures now - GCS ( / us (10) / WB (9) / BL ( - all younger teams. The exceptions are Freo, who have some weird injuries (Sandi's ribs, Fyfe's broken leg etc) and St Kilda, who don't have many at all on their list despite being a young side.

As our team matures over the next few years I expect the injuries will decrease.

- Ben