Injury ladder

[bigcarl]

I see the Saints sit atop the “games lost to best 22” ladder with 142 games in 2021. Melbourne is bottom with 25.

Ok, so injuries should never be an excuse but there is no denying they do play a role.

[wally]

I think alot has to do with the quality of the players not in the top 20

[bigcarl]

I think alot has to do with the quality of the players not in the top 20

True, but that would apply to most clubs. Including the reigning premier for example.

Look, I’m far from delighted with a season that promised so much. But injuries have to be factored in and, taking them into account, Ratts gets a pass for me.

[asiu]

the afl will be injured
if they don't give us our footy team

[samuraisaint]

I think alot has to do with the quality of the players not in the top 20

True, but that would apply to most clubs. Including the reigning premier for example.

Look, I’m far from delighted with a season that promised so much. But injuries have to be factored in and, taking them into account, Ratts gets a pass for me.

and if we win today, a little bit more than that.

[Moods]

I think alot has to do with the quality of the players not in the top 20

True, but that would apply to most clubs. Including the reigning premier for example.

Look, I’m far from delighted with a season that promised so much. But injuries have to be factored in and, taking them into account, Ratts gets a pass for me.

and if we win today, a little bit more than that.

How does he get a pass when we were regularly getting flogged in the first half of the season. We were more often than not uncompetitive rabble.. And injuries hadn’t really hit them at that stage

[samuraisaint]

Because we have had injuries all season Moods.

At the beginning of the season, we had Paddy our for personal reasons, Marshall injured in pre-season training, Paton out in an intra club practice match, King with concussion, Frawley (hamstring) in a practice game, Geary, Zac Jones was out, Hannebery all year, Gresham was injured in the first quarter of round 3, Carlisle had a back injury all season, and so on. No team is going to be able to get traction after a start like that.

Our mature-aged recruits this year haven't been fruitful, some of this is luck, but some administrative. I would definitely keep Mason Wood for example, but even he missed games through injury.

We have had an accidental development year and we were the league's oldest team on paper, despite rarely fieldling a player over the age of twenty-nine for the entire season. I think we will see at least five players retiring in a week's time. We simply can't afford to go in with half of our playing list not being available for almost twenty matches a season.

[cwrcyn]

Games missed to injury (& personal) so far

Paton 21
Hannebery 20
Frawley 17
Gresham 19
Geary 18
Carlisle 15
Marshall 10
Ryder 9
Jones 9
Clark 8
Kent 7
McKernan 6
Battle 5
McKenzie 5
Wood 4
Higgins 3
Billings 3
Coffield 2
Highmore 2
Crouch 2
Ross 2
Webster 2
King 2
Membrey 1
Sinclair 1
Howard 1
Connolly 1

[cwrcyn]

195 games all up

[groupie1]

Games missed to injury (& personal) so far

Paton 21
Hannebery 20
Frawley 17
Gresham 19
Geary 18
Carlisle 15
Marshall 10
Ryder 9
Jones 9
Clark 8
Kent 7
McKernan 6
Battle 5
McKenzie 5
Wood 4
Higgins 3
Billings 3
Coffield 2
Highmore 2
Crouch 2
Ross 2
Webster 2
King 2
Membrey 1
Sinclair 1
Howard 1
Connolly 1

Right...
and that top 9 is critical:
Paton 21
Hannebery 20
Frawley 17
Gresham 19
Geary 18
Carlisle 15
Marshall 10
Ryder 9
Jones 9
Clark 8

(or at least one of Frawley/Carlisle is critical, so 8/9)

With Jones and Gresh being our best burst players, we really need them to be alternating through centre bounces (Crouch, Steele, Gresh being our prime combo, with Dunstan/Ross rotating for Steele/Crouch and Jones/Hanners for Gresh).

[cwrcyn]

I forgot Byrnes. He missed 5 games at the start of the season

[perfectionist]

Perhaps someone could construct a "Tale of Woe" table for all teams for the last 55 years.

[st.byron]

Games missed to injury (& personal) so far

Paton 21
Hannebery 20
Frawley 17
Gresham 19
Geary 18
Carlisle 15
Marshall 10
Ryder 9
Jones 9
Clark 8
Kent 7
McKernan 6
Battle 5
McKenzie 5
Wood 4
Higgins 3
Billings 3
Coffield 2
Highmore 2
Crouch 2
Ross 2
Webster 2
King 2
Membrey 1
Sinclair 1
Howard 1
Connolly 1

That table is inflated by including players who were cooked or very close to it the start of the year in the list of our best 22.
Carlisle, Geary, Hannebery and Frawley are all done and were pretty much done at the start of the year. That's 70 games out of the 195 on that list.
Hannebery may still be playing but hands up who is confident he'll stay fit for even four games in a row. And when he's out, it's not just for a week or two.

Yes injuries have impacted us for sure. But they're no excuse for the lay down diabolical showings we've dished up on multiple occasions this year.

[cwrcyn]

The positive is that Highmore, Sharman, Byrnes, and Connolly have had game time which will help their development. All have shown enough to suggest they can make the grade long term. Without our long injury list it's conceivable they would have had almost no game time this year.

[B.M]

Injuries are everything

Full team in

We are playing finals

Half a team in

We miss out

[Impatient Sainter]

Some injuries are unavoidable - but I reckon a lot of the soft tissue injuries go back the half baked preseason the team had. The players just didnt have the miles in their legs to withstand the season rigours.

[The_Dud]

Injuries are everything

Full team in

We are playing finals

Half a team in

We miss out

Should still be playing finals with the players we’ve had available.

[cwrcyn]

We could have finished 7th had we not blown the Sydney, Geelong (first time) and Adelaide games. But in reality, we have had the worst run of injuries along with Richmond, and we've had the toughest draw to go with it. When you start the season down on numbers and it just continued for the entire season. Ryder and Marshall played together 6 times, with Marshall being physically underdone in all those games. We had a few games where Hunter was our sole ruck. That really hurt us. I can guarantee you that if Max Gawn had missed a ton of games this year, Melbourne would not be on top. They have lost only 25 games combined to their best 22. It makes a difference.

[B.M]

Not without Ryder and Marshall and Gresham for part, most or all of the year

Clearances lost - games lost

Max has been injured twice in games and only played a half when on fire early

Membrey and Ross missed a crucial game we just lost!

Chunks missed (3 or more)
Clark, Coffield, Jones, Crouch, Hannebery, Clarke, Geary, Billing, Higgins, Frawley, Kent, Battle, McKernan, Wood, Paton, Highmore, McKenzie.

That’s horrendous