Swans stars go under surgeon's knife
By TIM MORRISSEY
September 26, 2003
THE Swans are keeping Sydney's leading orthopaedic surgeons in the style to which they are accustomed, with seven players booked in for operations over the next few weeks.
Heading the list is Swans captain Stuart Maxfield, who will have an arthroscope to clean out a knee, while Irish star Tadhg Kennelly needs groin surgery.
Goalkicking wizard Michael O'Loughlin, who missed the Swans' finals campaign after tearing his hamstring in the last game of the regular season, will have a finger tendon repaired.
Luke Ablett, nephew of the great Gary Ablett, who kicked a brilliant goal from 50m in Sydney's 44-point preliminary final loss to Brisbane last Saturday, needs wrist surgery to repair damaged cartilage.
Rookies Mark Powell (groin), Scott McGlone (knee) and Ryan Crawford (wrist) are also booked in for surgery.
The injuries are a result of wear and tear from the Swans' stunning season.
But all the players are expected to be ready when the 2004 pre-season starts in early November.
"The upside is there's no major surgery . . . needed for any of these players," Swans club doctor Nathan Gibbs said.
"Everyone will be ready and on deck for pre-season training in late November, which is great news."
However, the operations mean a quarter of the Swans' list for 2003 will have had surgery. Key positional players Jason Ball (shoulder) and Stephen Doyle (knee) have already gone under the knife this season.
Doyle went down in the first game of the season but the ruckman eventually made it back for the final home-and-away season game and the two finals matches.
Ball wasn't so lucky.
A shoulder reconstruction after a collision in the Swans' win over Fremantle in round 17 ruled the versatile veteran ruckman out for the rest of the season.
"Bally is going well. His operation was a success and he will also be back when training starts in November," Gibbs said.
Coach Paul Roos won't complete all his player performance reviews until next week, but the Swans coach has given his team's overall performance 95 out of 100 ? taking into account that it was meant to be a rebuilding year for the Swans.
"I think as a total package ? including two finals games and two 70,000-plus crowds ? if you had to mark our year I'd give us 95 out of 100," Roos said.
"The only things we didn't do was win the preliminary final and go on and win the grand final."
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/st...storyid=243646
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