Danny
26-03-2005, 05:46 AM
A bad start for the StKilda captain....was the Gabba too hard?
Riewoldt injury linked to surface
6:07:45 PM Fri 25 March, 2005
Samantha Lane
Sportal for afl.com.au
With his first match as skipper ending in disaster at the Gabba, injured St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt has returned to Melbourne seemingly chirpy, but facing up to six weeks on the sidelines and surgery as soon as Saturday morning.
The luminous talent was to be advised by a specialist whether his broken collarbone required an operation, but he will require four weeks of rehabilitation at best.
With his right arm in a sling, Riewoldt signed autographs for fans at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, before wheeling his baggage to a car that took him to the Royal Children's' Hospital where the Saints visited patients on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, coach Grant Thomas linked Riewoldt's injury to the hardness of the Gabba surface in Thursday night's dramatic season-opener. But he remained tight-lipped on whether his star player had been unfairly manhandled by opponents Mal Michael and Chris Scott.
"I've got a personal view, but I'm not prepared to give my personal view," Thomas said.
"Things such as rules and regulations, what's fair, what's not, what's appropriate and what's not appropriate, I think there's other departments that handle that. Whether that's the AFL or the rules committee … it's not really for us to do," Thomas said.
"It's a heavily combative game and you're out there to do the best you can to win. And everyone has different levels of prices to pay to win. And Brisbane have been a terrific side for three or four years and got great results."
Having already watched a replay of the match twice, Thomas has concluded Riewoldt's injury occurred when he made a lunging attempt to mark during the third term. Asked whether the subsequent attention he received from Michael and Scott was detrimental to the game's image, Thomas said that was a matter for higher authorities to contemplate.
"I don't know if any publicity is good publicity, but that's something for Andrew (Demetriou) and Adrian (Anderson) to discuss and decide. And I haven't given it an enormous amount of thought in relation to watching the vision and everything else."
"If the AFL bring it up and raise it then we'll answer any questions they've got. If they don't that's fine as well," he said.
"If one of our players knew that someone had a broken collarbone and they deliberately went at that player they'd be speaking to me directly after the game."
Meanwhile, Thomas said both his players and the match umpires had commented on the extraordinary hardness of the Gabba surface, which hosted a cricket match just four days before Thursday night's game.
"It had a bit of impact on Nick's shoulder. It was damn hard," Thomas said.
"They only finished playing cricket there four days ago. But once again, the AFL signed off on the ground and said it was suitable so we do what the AFL tells us to do."
"I've seen Nick Riewoldt fly for those marks every second week and he has had no damage. So whether it was the ground, or whether it was a freak accident that's something that probably needs to be investigated. Because all this is about proper procedures so that it doesn't happen again."
Thomas said he would consult with Riewoldt and the club's leadership group over who should be acting captain in Riewoldt's absence.
Riewoldt injury linked to surface
6:07:45 PM Fri 25 March, 2005
Samantha Lane
Sportal for afl.com.au
With his first match as skipper ending in disaster at the Gabba, injured St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt has returned to Melbourne seemingly chirpy, but facing up to six weeks on the sidelines and surgery as soon as Saturday morning.
The luminous talent was to be advised by a specialist whether his broken collarbone required an operation, but he will require four weeks of rehabilitation at best.
With his right arm in a sling, Riewoldt signed autographs for fans at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, before wheeling his baggage to a car that took him to the Royal Children's' Hospital where the Saints visited patients on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, coach Grant Thomas linked Riewoldt's injury to the hardness of the Gabba surface in Thursday night's dramatic season-opener. But he remained tight-lipped on whether his star player had been unfairly manhandled by opponents Mal Michael and Chris Scott.
"I've got a personal view, but I'm not prepared to give my personal view," Thomas said.
"Things such as rules and regulations, what's fair, what's not, what's appropriate and what's not appropriate, I think there's other departments that handle that. Whether that's the AFL or the rules committee … it's not really for us to do," Thomas said.
"It's a heavily combative game and you're out there to do the best you can to win. And everyone has different levels of prices to pay to win. And Brisbane have been a terrific side for three or four years and got great results."
Having already watched a replay of the match twice, Thomas has concluded Riewoldt's injury occurred when he made a lunging attempt to mark during the third term. Asked whether the subsequent attention he received from Michael and Scott was detrimental to the game's image, Thomas said that was a matter for higher authorities to contemplate.
"I don't know if any publicity is good publicity, but that's something for Andrew (Demetriou) and Adrian (Anderson) to discuss and decide. And I haven't given it an enormous amount of thought in relation to watching the vision and everything else."
"If the AFL bring it up and raise it then we'll answer any questions they've got. If they don't that's fine as well," he said.
"If one of our players knew that someone had a broken collarbone and they deliberately went at that player they'd be speaking to me directly after the game."
Meanwhile, Thomas said both his players and the match umpires had commented on the extraordinary hardness of the Gabba surface, which hosted a cricket match just four days before Thursday night's game.
"It had a bit of impact on Nick's shoulder. It was damn hard," Thomas said.
"They only finished playing cricket there four days ago. But once again, the AFL signed off on the ground and said it was suitable so we do what the AFL tells us to do."
"I've seen Nick Riewoldt fly for those marks every second week and he has had no damage. So whether it was the ground, or whether it was a freak accident that's something that probably needs to be investigated. Because all this is about proper procedures so that it doesn't happen again."
Thomas said he would consult with Riewoldt and the club's leadership group over who should be acting captain in Riewoldt's absence.