I feel sorry for Jake, sorry for the Dees and sorry for the Demonland fraternity.  It takes some of the gloss off our recent performances, but all we will rebound strongly!

Edited June 3, 20186 yr by Deeoldfart

Official word. 

 

Lever to miss the rest of 2018

Matt Burgan  June 3, 2018 3:18 PM

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• JAKE Lever will miss the rest of the 2018 AFL season after it was confirmed he had ruptured his left anterior cruciate ligament.

General manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said it was a tough blow to lose Lever for the remainder of the year. 

“It is dissapointing news that Jake will miss the rest of the 2018 season,” he told Melbourne Media. 

“After finding his feet early on, Jake has displayed the type of form we recruited him for – he has been an integral part of our team’s recent winning form.  

“Although we will be without Jake for the rest of the season, his absence creates an opportunity for for another defender to come in to the team, we look forward to Jake returning fully fit for our 2019 season.”

Lever has played 66 AFL matches (56 with Adelaide Crows from 2015-17 and 10 with Melbourne this year).

He played in Adelaide’s Grand Final loss to Richmond last year, before joining Melbourne.

A NAB AFL Rising Star nominee in 2015, Lever was named in the 2017 All-Australian squad.

Although still only 22 years old, he is widely regarded as one of the best tall defenders in the competition.

 

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Whilst one player shouldn't make the difference .......you thing just for once in our history since 64 can we ever keep our guns on the park, lyon back issues, swarta knees, all were in our premiership clocks......the jinx continues 

How long is recovery. Will he be full training come January? 

2 minutes ago, Hogan2014 said:

Whilst one player shouldn't make the difference .......you thing just for once in our history since 64 can we ever keep our guns on the park, lyon back issues, swarta knees, all were in our premiership clocks......the jinx continues 

Lever's just 22 and by no means a vital cog in how we play. Besides, we're at about 9am in our premiership clock tilt. If we get it this year, it's about 3 years early I reckon.

There's that curse again !!!

5 minutes ago, Chook said:

I wonder if LARS is a chance? Knowing Melbourne, we'll go the old fashioned way regardless.

Depends on other damage, but I dare say at the age of 22 they will do the standard op.

4 minutes ago, Hogan2014 said:

Whilst one player shouldn't make the difference .......you thing just for once in our history since 64 can we ever keep our guns on the park, lyon back issues, swarta knees, all were in our premiership clocks......the jinx continues 

Yeah, cursed injury-wise back then. Plenty of other players, too; G Lovett, Tingay, Prymke, Sean Charles, etc etc.

1 minute ago, Chook said:

Lever's just 22 and by no means a vital cog in how we play. Besides, we're at about 9am in our premiership clock tilt. If we get it this year, it's about 3 years early I reckon.

The fact he's 22 and we're already in June makes it unlikely he'll opt for LARS IMO.

Disagree that Lever isn't a vital cog, but I agree with you re: where this squad is at. I've been saying that a flag for the Dees this year would be like Hawks winning in 2008.

Edited June 3, 20186 yr by Rogue

11 minutes ago, Chook said:

Damn. Poor bloke.

Not sure anyone should spend big bucks on a bloke who's done his knee before. Massive chance of it reoccurring, especially on that hell-hole that is [Sponsor name here] Stadium.

That's rubbish, and LARS is a thing of the past, at least in sensible sports-med management. 

Bugger. A full and speedy recovery Jake. Cya at preseason i suppose.

Bugger

So losing Lever for us is like losing who for WCE, Rich, Syd or Geel?

creates another opportunity 

9 months, knife to game play, no shorter exceptions. 

1 minute ago, Webber said:

9 months, knife to game play, no shorter exceptions. 

so early march 2019 ready to play?

1 hour ago, Webber said:

Interesting thing with repeat ACL ruptures. The physical test we use to assess ACL patency is the 'Lachman's' test, and in my experience and statistically, they reveal more 'give' on reconstructed knees than non. If the tests pre-MRI are suggesting some laxity with inconclusive 'end-feel' (when the ligament snaps tight), it's not easy to be definitive. If the MRI is now inconclusive, I'd suggest he'll now have a sneaky arthroscopy to get the real status of the ACL. I'll admit that as much as you can rupture an ACL in innocuous fashion, yesterday's was particularly innocuous. My first thought was a meniscal tear (cartilage), given it may have been vulnerable post first reconstruction. That would be a whole lot better, so here's hoping. 

Interesting Webb thx for the summary

8 minutes ago, Chook said:

Lever's just 22 and by no means a vital cog in how we play. Besides, we're at about 9am in our premiership clock tilt. If we get it this year, it's about 3 years early I reckon.

9am??? We are 3rd on the ladder and the competition is weak. Blues are at 9am. This list is capable of winning the premiership 

1 minute ago, bandicoot said:

9am??? We are 3rd on the ladder and the competition is weak. Blues are at 9am. This list is capable of winning the premiership 

Blues are at 1am. 9am is a good list that needs to mature. The start of the working day. For scale, midday is the premiership.

4 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

so early march 2019 ready to play?

Yes.

7 minutes ago, SFebey said:

So losing Lever for us is like losing who for WCE, Rich, Syd or Geel?

creates another opportunity 

I'd rather play West Coast without Darling and us without Lever. Not sure how long Darling will be out for though.

5 minutes ago, Chook said:

Blues are at 1am. 9am is a good list that needs to mature. The start of the working day. For scale, midday is the premiership.

Ok... got you. In that case 9am sounds good ? 

Very unfortunate for Jake and the team.   Just starting to really gel down back.

Frosty time.  Our next best intercept player.  Will need to step up a little and play the role with a level head.  Has everything that Jake has but smart choices / decision making are the difference and will need to improve in this area to do the job as effectively..

22 minutes ago, Rogue said:

Yeah, cursed injury-wise back then. Plenty of other players, too; G Lovett, Tingay, Prymke, Sean Charles, etc etc.

The fact he's 22 and we're already in June makes it unlikely he'll opt for LARS IMO.

Disagree that Lever isn't a vital cog, but I agree with you re: where this squad is at. I've been saying that a flag for the Dees this year would be like Hawks winning in 2008.

Premiership this year , and another couple of years before another! I’ll take that !!! 

Poor guy. Really feel for him.

Not that I think this will eventuate - though it is entirely possible and i would love it to - but imagine if we made the Grand Final and won. Last year misses out on a GF and then if we were to make it this year misses out in playing and winning one.

Obviously jumping to so many conclusions that most likely won't happen but imagine how heart-wrenching that would be for him. 

Anyway, one soldier out, another one in. Though he is a gun and we are certainly a better team with him playing, as long as our structure holds strong and cohesive, we should be able to sufficiently replace him with one of our defenders in the VFL. 

Go dees

6 minutes ago, demonique said:

Premiership this year , and another couple of years before another! I’ll take that !!! 

2020 Demons should only be better than 2018 Demons.

We're not going to lose too many players because they're over the hill/retiring, and there are plenty of inexperienced/young guys that should only improve over the next few years!

I truly feel sorry for Lever.

However, for the doomsayers, remember we won a lot of games last year without Gawn, Jones, Hogan, Viney and Watts who was really good in the first half of the year. Also, we won them without Lever.

In 2016 the Dogs were decimated by injuries to some of their best players. Guess what, others stepped up.

I'm sure we have enough ammunition to cope with this loss.