Injury ends Brown?s season
The West Australian
25th February 2008, 19:15 WST

The AFL's pre-season curse has now hit West Coast, with emerging key position player Mitch Brown needing a full knee reconstruction following Saturday's pre-season match against Collingwood.
On the same Albany outing that saw Magpies youngster Brad Dick ruled out for the year with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, Brown was today found to have exactly the same injury.

A club statement said he would undergo surgery later this week.

?Brown hyper-extended his left knee during the third quarter of that game and his worst fears were realised upon visiting surgeons this afternoon,? the statement said.

?He ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament and will undergo surgery on Friday.?

Recruited from North Ballarat with the club's first selection (No.16) in the 2006 AFL draft, the injury comes at an unfortunate time for the 19 year-old, having emerged strongly in the Eagles' pre-season.

And Brown's injury, almost certain to have ended his season, is the latest in a rash of serious injuries to strike several clubs in a brutal start to 2008.

Fremantle on-baller Paul Hasleby, Adelaide ruckman Rhett Biglands, Sydney defender Nick Malceski and young teammate Kristen Thornton have all needed surgeries, ruling them out for 2008.