Just browsing through the player stats for this year and it's hard not to notice just how many games so many of our players have missed this year through injury. I know it shouldn't be used as an excuse, but it should at least put things in perspective. We have played 18 games this year, of which (in guernsey order):

McLean has missed 7.

Neitz has missed 6.

Sylvia has missed 5.

Yze has missed 10.*

Johnstone has missed 7.

Green has missed 4.

Bartram has missed 17.

Bell has missed 3.

Moloney has missed 9.

Robertson has missed 7.

Rivers has missed 15.

Wheatley has missed 6.

Bruce has missed 4.

Picket has missed 13.*

Whelan has missed 13.

(*Denotes games missed not solely due to injury.)

All of these players I would consider walk-up starters when fit. This doesn't include young or fringe players (like Frawley, P.Johnson, Dunn, Petterd, Weetra) that have also missed several weeks with injury as well (I'm not sure how many they've missed through injury and how many they've missed through omission, so I haven't included them on that list).

But wait, it gets better. We have had only 2 players to have played all 18 games (White and McDonald) and only six more players that have played more than 15 out of the 18 games. Of these 6 players, two are younger than 20 (Jones and Bate), two are fringe players (Ward and Godfrey) and it is only the other two (Carroll and Davey) that I would consider part of the experienced core.

Given all this, is it any wonder that we are where we are now?

Its been worse then any other team i can remember, ill give you that

I think the last time a team got a bad run of injuries like we have had is when Bohden took over the Hawks. What a recruit everyone needs a secret weapon like Bohden.

We got key injuries in 1995, too.

I cant remember a time when we have had so may injuries affecting key players

But this year has been awful

I think the last time a team got a bad run of injuries like we have had is when Bohden took over the Hawks. What a recruit everyone needs a secret weapon like Bohden.

Still continuing the witch hunt on Bohdan? Get real, he can't control injuries on a football field. It is simply bad luck, pure and simple.

The sad thing is with all these injuries i would expect the opportunities presented to young kids providing us with some believe for the future.

However the only ones to impress bit not set the world on fire have been;

Pettard

Frawley

Newton

Buckley

And we should be expecting at least two young players to excel each year...

All in all a wasteful year. Nothing gained except the continued proof our list is crap and a terrible, disastrous year financially...

The sad thing is with all these injuries i would expect the opportunities presented to young kids providing us with some believe for the future.

However the only ones to impress bit not set the world on fire have been;

Pettard

Frawley

Newton

Buckley

And we should be expecting at least two young players to excel each year...

All in all a wasteful year. Nothing gained except the continued proof our list is crap and a terrible, disastrous year financially...

As WJ pointed out a while ago, in addition to feeling the horrible effect of injuries from week to week we've also had to endure many of those injuries happening during games. This happened a lot earlier in the season when we sometimes only had 18 or 19 fit players left by half time. Worse still, we often come up against opponents who have full or near to full lists e.g. how many key Sydney players were missing on Sunday? Leo Barry (and wasn't he missed in the quest of having to silence either a 20% fit Neita or fully absent Robbo?).

On the other hand, an already injury ravaged Melbourne loses two players at team selection (Bruce and Sylvia), two before the game (Robbo and Frawley) and one within 5 minutes of the opening bounce. Of the five, three are first round draft picks, one is arguably in our best three players ad another, our top goalkicker. Meanwhile, our skipper is out there in spirit by physically - meh!

It has been a horrible year for injuries. All the more reason to throw caution to the wind and let all these kids get some valuable senior level game time.

Just posted the final stats for the year up on bigfooty:

Injuries are never an excuse for inept performance, but I honestly can't remember a team suffering as many serious injuries to so many key players in one season as Melbourne have this year.

To summarise:

• We used 39 of our 42 listed players this season.
• With the exception of injured and rookie-listed players, we only had 4 players this year who were required to play less than 8 games: all of them were first or second year players.
• Melbourne suffered 35 injuries in the 16 match reports on the AFL website that list the injuries sustained during the games: on average, by the end of every game this season, we had less than 2 fit players on the bench.
• Only one player this year (White) played in all 22 games (for reference, Carlton had 7 players who played in all their games, Richmond had 9).
• Only three other players (Carroll, McDonald, Jones) managed more than 19 games for the season.

Of the 22 games this season, the following members of our best 22 missed the following amount of games due to injury:

Bartram missed 21

Bate missed 3

Bell missed 5

Brown missed 3

Bruce missed 6

Davey missed 4

Green missed 4

Johnstone missed 7

McLean missed 8

Moloney missed 12

Neitz missed 7

Rivers missed 19

Robertson missed 7

Sylvia missed 6

Wheatley missed 8

Whelan missed 17

Yze missed 14

Add up those numbers and you get 151 missed matches. In other words, 17 of our best 22 players missed an average of 9 matches each over the course of this year entirely due to injury.

To make matters worse, many of our "fringe" players suffered serious injuries as well. Although it's hard to gauge how many games precisely were missed by injury and how many were due to lack of form, Dunn, Frawley, Godfrey, Holland, Petterd and Pickett have all suffered medium or long term injuries (say, 3 to 8 weeks) at various stages during the season as well.

The moral of the story? With a new coach and a fit list to choose from, Dees back in the top 8 next year.

I think the last time a team got a bad run of injuries like we have had is when Bohden took over the Hawks. What a recruit everyone needs a secret weapon like Bohden.

Its a witch! Its a witch!

If he floats like a duck we will burn him at the stake!

Its a witch! Its a witch!

If he floats like a duck we will burn him at the stake!

I'm perfectly happy to join the mindless mob and burn him. You don't need to defend every post made against him and yes I know your reasoning. You're supposed to moderate messages not thought.

I'm perfectly happy to join the mindless mob and burn him. You don't need to defend every post made against him and yes I know your reasoning. You're supposed to moderate messages not thought.

Rest assured, I would never moderate the thoughts of the "mindless mob". B)

also look at the amount of hamstring and other 'soreness defined injuries' matches missed by the young ones. there were a few throughout the year. kids under 25 shouldn't be getting these sort of injuries, especially hamstring related. we had too many soft tissue related injuries throughout the season which could be a possible cause of our high injury rate - yes we were unlucky in some games, but when you have a fitness advisor who has an athletics background and trains them like sprinters, then you are bound for problems. it happened at hawthorn and it looks a little similar to us this year.

footballers are not sprinters, footballers need to be able to repeatedly run at various stages for 120mins.

i wouldn't say we are one of the fittest sides in the comp, nor the quickest, hence we still have a bit of work to do in this area.

bhoden still has a year to run on his contract from what ive been told, so i guess we can judge him more at this time next year.

Rest assured, I would never moderate the thoughts of the "mindless mob". B)

RR you are exceptional at what you do.

That's reassuring