It was interesting to hear in the injury report today that Buddy has been training for a week and a half. Presuming he doesn't injure himself playing in his 300th in round 23, one positive of Buddy rehabbing his injury late in this season is that he should be in a position to put in a full preseason, build up his fitness and be ready to go from round 1. It has been a while, I suspect, since Buddy had a surgery-free off-season; his most reason pre-season was significantly truncated by recovering from groin surgery, which could have affected his fitness base and contributed to the injury.
The same goes for Naismith, who was still rehabbing over the recent offseason. Harry Cunningham is another player we have missed who should be ready to rip in from the start of pre-season. Also, generally, a benefit of the of pre-finals bye is it allows players who need surgery to get an earlier opportunity to have it and rehab it, and thus miss less preseason.
Separately, it does seem like we have had too many players re-injure themselves this year. It will be interesting to see whether there is any personnel change in the medical staff before next season.
So if Buddy re injures his groin or hamstring, setting his pre season back another 4-8 weeks, or does a completely new injury due in part to being not match fit, would it be worth it in the context of the match being meaningless (other than being a farewell game for Jack and Macca)? Same goes for Naismith given we've got the ruck pretty well covered in the NEAFL.
My feeling is put them on ice for season 2019 and give them as best a chance as possible to hit 2020 in tip top shape.
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