Crouch injuries revealed

[Whoskins]

Superman's injuries finally revealed
Jenny McAsey
September 08, 2006
The Australian

THE mystery injuries that stopped the record-breaking run of Sydney's Jared Crouch can finally be revealed as he lies on the couch at home with his right leg in plaster.
It wasn't depression, or dandruff - as one wag asked Crouch - but a combination of a severely torn ligament and broken bones affecting his body from ankle to shoulder and in-between, which stymied one of the game's most durable players.

Crouch, an uncompromising defender who played an AFL record 194 games from debut, was left out of the Swans side in round 13 for the first time in eight years, due to several concurrent injuries.

But then the intrigue began because Crouch, a man who admits he butts heads and thinks differently to most footballers, would not allow the club to release details of his ailments.

Yesterday however, a day after he had surgery to repair a badly torn ligament deep in his right ankle, he decided the time was right to put an end to the speculation.

Crouch said the change-of-heart was out of respect for coach Paul Roos, and for his own family, who have had to deal with countless inquiries about his condition.

But he is also satisfied he has proved his point that the media should respect players' privacy, whether it be about injuries or the AFL's policy on educating footballers who use illicit drugs.

Crouch had played with the damaged ankle all season, but it was the broken collarbone from round nine, which he endured for three matches, that eventually got the better of him.

"After the St Kilda game (round 11) and Collingwood the next week, I couldn't even drive home I was in so much pain," Crouch said.

The ligament, which holds the two lower leg bones together at the ankle, was first torn during the third quarter of last year's grand final.

That injury appeared to heal but flared up during the pre-season and surgery in February revealed the tear. Crouch decided to play on and hope it would heal, but the ankle remained unstable.

Then he broke his left collarbone during an innocuous encounter with Hawthorn's Shane Crawford. It was the same collarbone he broke during the International Rules series two years ago.

Again, Crouch kept playing.

"I do want to play each week, I do want to be Superman, I do want to be tough and keep playing with injuries," he said.

Complicating those problems were two chronic injuries he has had for six years - a stress fracture in his lower back which had flared up and was consequently causing referred hamstring pain.

By round 13, when the Swans were due to play Fremantle, Crouch and Roos decided the player needed at least five weeks rest.

"If I had been only carrying one injury I'd still be playing, but I was carrying too many," Crouch said.

Then came the decision not to disclose his injuries, which he said at the time were simply a private matter between himself and club doctor Nathan Gibbs.

But this week Crouch also divulged that an incident earlier in the season played a part, leading him to distrust some sections of the media.

In round seven, when Sydney played Richmond, Crouch was involved in a heavy clash with Tigers' spearhead Matthew Richardson. He was briefly concussed but didn't have to leave the field.

Later a newspaper reported that Crouch had a broken jaw but would play the next week against the Western Bulldogs.

Crouch said the report was wrong, but he had no recourse, and it put him in danger on the football field.

"That was not only untrue, but the next week because players in Melbourne had read that article, they smacked me around the head. On the field the players said, 'How's your jaw?'

"I'd go to a contest and there'd be sneaky little ones in my face. I don't hold any grudges against those players. Players will target corked thighs or broken ribs.

"It is unfortunate but it is big business out there and you try to take any advantage. But I can't understand why clubs talk about injuries at all."

On top of that, Crouch was angry that media outlets wanted to expose the names of the three AFL players who had twice tested positive to illicit drugs.

He believed that showed disrespect for a policy designed to educate and help players, and in return he wasn't going to help the media.

"I don't want to give the media what they want, I want openness and honesty from the media and for them to report things factually," he said.

Crouch admits he has strongly held opinions which often go against the grain.

"I live in a world most people don't live in, I understand that I'm fighting a battle I can't win, but I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't fight it," he said.

Crouch will be on crutches for the next two months, and won't run for four months. Last year he was voted by the Swans' coaches as the team's best player in the finals series, but this year they will aim for another flag without him.

"It is hard to watch my team-mates playing so well. I can say what they're probably not allowed to, that there is an exciting feeling and they are a big chance to play in another premiership," he said.

"There used to be a saying, 'No (Wayne) Carey, no Kangaroos'. No Crouch, no Swans - I don't think I quite have that impact," he laughed.

[injuryupdate]

More at SMH

http://www.smh.com.au/news/afl/revea...222264957.html

[injuryupdate]

The medical term for Crouch's ankle injury is a syndesmosis sprain.