just on the channel 10 news sports preview ... "the demons lose one of their rising stars for the REST OF THE SEASON".

Bloody hell. cant take a trick with our defenders. this is really upsetting news. hopefully all goes well for him in his recovery.

would really like grimes back asap now.

Don't Forget the Foot is weight Bearing. Once you have breaks it takes ages to heal. Better in the long run if he takes it easy & then does slow Re-hab.

He is still young & will be back. James Hird had Bad feet for years & Returned to play evil Football again. Colin will be back.

It's a real set-back. These are REALLY important years for our defence to figure each other out, and that's the biggest loss right there. But then we have to consider Warnock, Martin and Frawley will get the games Garland won't. Also let's not forget Rivers, who needs games under his belt quick-smart.

True,

A possible silver lining is that if Warnock, Martin, Frawley and Co make the most of their opportunities, it might allow us the opportunity to try Garland forward upon his return. His speed, lateral movement and ability to read the play would be great assests up forward. At the moment he's been playing too well down back to move, but if the others cement themselves as a solid unit whilst he's out...

We could certainly do with more to kick to going forward.

True,

A possible silver lining is that if Warnock, Martin, Frawley and Co make the most of their opportunities, it might allow us the opportunity to try Garland forward upon his return. His speed, lateral movement and ability to read the play would be great assests up forward. At the moment he's been playing too well down back to move, but if the others cement themselves as a solid unit whilst he's out...

We could certainly do with more to kick to going forward.

Garland is earmarked as a defender, after this years draft our forward line will be set, will need time like the backline but the spine should be set

Please tell me this is not happening?

bloody hell they'd be handy

be nice to have someone to take a contested mark up forward

AB SoBloody lutely!

& the great thing about Butcher, if we happen to get him.

He can play both FF or CHF, & IMO, he appears like he could go to defence if needed as well.

Thats the sort of power forward needed these days, adaptability.

a neighbour who had Lunch with Brad Miller a couple of days ago was told there's a good chance that Jack Watts will play in around 4-6 Weeks. He is apparently doing weight Training Before school & is raring to go. That's all i know.

4 - 6 weeks ! Jesus, don't put that curse on him !

4 - 6 weeks ! Jesus, don't put that curse on him !

biff, could you imagine been 17 watchin your mates run out on the MCG , i said 3months ago that watts would play as soon as he could, imagine when he watched RICH play last week, do think he sat there and thought i do my studys and play school footy, hes done a pre season, i watched him train about 15 times at casey, and any kid thats training that hard doesnt want to sit on the sidelines, my estimation 10 games 21 goals, i know it only practice but you want to see him line up for goals, and there past of watching it is you no wants to be there.

We are dead set cursed. Supposedly an injury free pre-season, but look at our current injury list!!!

FWIW, I would promote Zomer and see if he has te ability to create a contest up at FF. Couldn't do much worse than Newton, and since seeing him in a TAC cup GF, I always thought he had potential. Worth a shot...

But this is devastating news for the club. The only beneficial effect it could have is helping us get higher draft picks. He is an important player and this will hinder his development, as has been the case with Rivers and his injuries. rotten news for the club and a black day.

Has a stress fracture in right foot.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsart...33/default.aspx

Sh!t....is this a bad dream.....already our injury list is looking like last years.

@#$*!

I guess it's for the best, I believe Egan started with a stress fracture in the navicular bone.

Didn't Hird have the same thing?

Butcher & Scully

Hasn't taken long for this to come out. Prior to Round 2.

Told you I wasn't lying. Shitful news I am fairly upset as I know col is so hopefully one of our younger players can step up.

Well done Tingles. You said you hated to be the bearer of bad news.....this isn't bad, it's f!@$#^d.

Don't Forget the Foot is weight Bearing. Once you have breaks it takes ages to heal. Better in the long run if he takes it easy & then does slow Re-hab.

He is still young & will be back. James Hird had Bad feet for years & Returned to play evil Football again. Colin will be back.

Well if it's 4 months, we won't see him until August- late August, they may as well say 'season'.

Please tell me this is not happening?

You're not wrong in this instant.

:angry:

True,

A possible silver lining is that if Warnock, Martin, Frawley and Co make the most of their opportunities, it might allow us the opportunity to try Garland forward upon his return. His speed, lateral movement and ability to read the play would be great assests up forward. At the moment he's been playing too well down back to move, but if the others cement themselves as a solid unit whilst he's out...

We could certainly do with more to kick to going forward.

You're forgetting one major factor. The kid can kick too. It's the reason he could go there with more permanence, in the same way PJ has, and Newton COULD if he pulled his finger out. They have good - very good kicking boots. And it's the reason guys like Jamar, Rivers and Martin will never do more han pinch-hitting roles there. They can't be relied on for accuracy 22 rounds of the year. Only guys like Buddy can afford to be inaccurate, as he and his team create so many opportunities they win by sheer weight of numbers.

If he starts as a defender and moves forward that would complete a very old-fashioned training method of allowing a player time to get into the brain of a defender before he takes them on in order to beat them in match-ups. There are some posters on here who called this back in his Sandy days, and I stand by it.

WTF!!!! Why do we keep getting this BS luck. We finally get another defender to rival Rivers, and what happens!? He gets a 4 month injury. Many of you will laugh at me saying this, but in all the years i've watched to Dees the major component that we have lacked every time we seem to get a quality team, no even just a quality player, we get struck down by unlucky injuries.

Man i'm [censored] off!

BTW best of luck with your recovery, Colin. You will be sorely missed!

Is it the same as Egan's?

Poor kid.

Lets just hope that we can get the bad luck out of the way now rather than still have it in 2 or 3 years when we are climbing hard.

We are dead set cursed. Supposedly an injury free pre-season, but look at our current injury list!!!

FWIW, I would promote Zomer and see if he has te ability to create a contest up at FF. Couldn't do much worse than Newton, and since seeing him in a TAC cup GF, I always thought he had potential. Worth a shot...

But this is devastating news for the club. The only beneficial effect it could have is helping us get higher draft picks. He is an important player and this will hinder his development, as has been the case with Rivers and his injuries. rotten news for the club and a black day.

We do seem to be cursed. Only the saints would have had a worse run with injuries than us over the last 3 or 4 years. It really is a shame for Col, he`s gone from being scorned by most fans(myself included) to one of the first pencilled in the lineup each week. We have to take the positives out of this. We know this kid is part of our future now and is looking like a 10 year player. This will give another youngster the chance to cement a spot in the backline this year and secure his future on the playing list. I was impressed with Martin last year and I think he will be the man to benefit out of Col`s misfortune.

That said, this is a big loss for the team as a whole as it will probably mean an extra 3 or 4 goals a week kicked against us such is the vein of form that Garland has been in for the past 12 months

After Hird was cleared to play after a similar injury, he played around 22 games in 3 years. Egan's still out after trying to get back quick.

Write off the season and hopefully he can start preseason in October.

Stef n Frawley needs games under the belt and they'll get it now.

That is absolutley shattering news! :angry:

I guess, as many people have already stated, we can only look at the positives here- that it was picked up early and Garlo can do the full rehab and not injure it further as was the case with Hird/Egan missing seasons, it opens a spot up for another rookie to get a chance on the senior list, and gives guys like Martin, Frawley and Bell more of an opportunity to cement a spot in the 22 in the back 6. We already know Garland will be around for a long time, and as DB has said, longevity is the key here. As much as i'm completely shattered he'll miss the majority of this year, i'm glad he won't be running around aggravating such a serious injury, in whats expected to be a down year. And hey, in the very very slight chance we have a ripper season and go on to make the finals (dreaming...), he could well be available come September!

Garland is earmarked as a defender, after this years draft our forward line will be set, will need time like the backline but the spine should be set

Still feeling as blinkered about this after another 10 goal display? Bearing in mind that my scenario was full of conditionals, what have we to lose by trying Garland upfront upon his return?

The kid has speed and class (and as Dappa points out, a good kick) - attributes we lack up front. If it doesn't work out, so be it. We've not much to lose but something to gain. I back him as a better option better down forward than any other we currently have maybe barring Green.

And counting draft picks before we have them doesn't wash.