injuryupdate
27-09-2003, 02:47 PM
The Brisbane Lions are chasing a dream of three Premierships in a row, but they may unfortunately lose it in the medical room. Just as the Lions themselves benefited from being a young up-and-coming side running over a beaten-up Essendon in 2001, the Lions go into the AFL Grand Final with possibly too many of their guns under injury clouds. The most serious is Nigel Lappin, who probably faces a similar dilemma to NRL player Luke Priddis. The club tried to suggest he had a corked hip but teammate Jason Akermanis revealed the obvious, that Lappin has a rib cartilage injury. He will surely need as much local anaesthetic as can possibly be administered without puncturing a lung to play next week. Alistair Lynch suffered a thigh injury during the Preliminary Final win. Michael Voss (knee cartilage) will play but will definitely not be 100% fit and they must decide whether to risk Marcus Ashcroft. Chris and Brad Scott and Beau McDonald are already out for the year. Collingwood have relatively few injury concerns, with perhaps only Jason Cloke and Chris Tarrant spending significant time in the medical room.