Injury List 2024

Thread to post all injury news

First post is a bad one:

The Western Bulldogs can confirm that midfielder Bailey Smith has suffered an ACL injury during today?s training session.


The 23-year-old left the track midway through the session, with scans confirming the extent of the injury to his knee.


?We?re all extremely disappointed for Bailey, and empathise with him greatly,? Bulldogs? Executive Director of Football, Chris Grant said.


?The entire Club will rally around him during this difficult time, as he begins his rehab journey.?


The Club will provide a further update in due course.

Mods Please sticky

Disaster really for both Bailey and the club who have worked really hard over the off season to add much needed pace across all areas of the ground - Bailey’s loss will be felt in that area

Of course we already knew thanks to our track watchers, now the media has caught on:

AFL 2024: Western Bulldogs star Tim English held back from contact drills for at least a further two weeks

All-Australian ruck Tim English is expected to remain out of contact drills for another fortnight but the Western Bulldogs are confident he will be fine to play in round 1 as he deals with a medical issue.

The star big man has not taken part in contact drills since two weeks before Christmas and wasn?t part of match simulation on Monday.

He has now been out of contract training for five weeks, with much of that including the club?s Christmas break.

English has been taking part in fitness aspects of training and was running on Monday.

The Dogs labelled the problem as a ?medical issue? and didn?t provide further detail when asked by this masthead.

English is expected back into full training by the end of the month and is not in doubt to play in round 1 against Melbourne on March 17.

The generally durable ruck has played an average of 19.8 matches over the last five seasons as he grew into one of the game?s best talls.

Named as starting ruck in the 2023 All-Australian side, English faces a big season ahead as he comes to the end of a two-year contract.

The West Australian is expected to land a lucrative new deal, which at age 26, could stretch beyond five seasons.

He is one of a number of Dogs that will be keenly watched this season, including Bailey Smith, who comes out of contract at the end of the year but will not play in 2024 due to a knee injury.

Forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is another Dog due a new contract.

Bulldogs forward Aaron Naughton signed a monster eight-year extension in October.

The Dogs battled through a physical match simulation on Monday as Luke Beveridge?s side gets stuck into 2024.

Former Magpie Trent Bianco and Essendon-listed player Rhett Montgomery played in the match-sim, with both players signed to the Footscray VFL side for 2024.

The Bulldogs do not have a list spot open to use during the supplemental selection period (SSP) but could create one by placing Smith on the long-term injury list.

Out of contract training ?

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Originally Posted by ledge

Out of contract training ?

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Not out of contract till end of the year

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Originally Posted by bornadog

Not out of contract till end of the year

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I know but it’s what the article says “out of contract training”

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Originally Posted by ledge

I know but it’s what the article says “out of contract training”

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Loving this Ledge, getting all persnickety over a typo.

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Originally Posted by ledge

I know but it’s what the article says “out of contract training”

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It relates to a clause in his contract. He doesn't need to train with the playing group.

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Originally Posted by Jasper

Loving this Ledge, getting all persnickety over a typo.

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I love a typo that actually insinuates something confusing.

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Originally Posted by azabob

It relates to a clause in his contract. He doesn't need to train with the playing group.

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It’s like transition into retirement ., preparing for when he is out of contract and how he should train. :-)

The Western Bulldogs confirm that Tim English suffered some migraine-related symptoms in the weeks prior to the Christmas break.
As he has suffered concussion in the past, the Club wanted to be thorough and diligent in Tim?s management and engaged medical specialists.
As these comprehensive assessments were being completed in late December and early January, Tim was placed in a non-contact training model.
Specialists confirmed that Tim?s symptoms were not related to concussion and more consistent with a migraine.
Tim?s migraine symptoms have now fully resolved and he will progress back into full training over the next week.

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Originally Posted by Countrydog5

The Western Bulldogs confirm that Tim English suffered some migraine-related symptoms in the weeks prior to the Christmas break.
As he has suffered concussion in the past, the Club wanted to be thorough and diligent in Tim?s management and engaged medical specialists.
As these comprehensive assessments were being completed in late December and early January, Tim was placed in a non-contact training model.
Specialists confirmed that Tim?s symptoms were not related to concussion and more consistent with a migraine.
Tim?s migraine symptoms have now fully resolved and he will progress back into full training over the next week.

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Thanks Countrydog. That?s good news. Go Timmy!

Some injury news in the middle of an article about Tim English's contract:

English returned to contact training this week after a two-month absence as the club probed migraine issues across December and January.

It is understood English had suffered a training track collision that created those migraines, but it was to the body rather than head.

The Dogs medicos were ultimately able to rule out a repeat of his 2022 concussion issues.

English?s return is a huge positive in an off-season where young teammate Aiden O?Driscoll is the latest AFL player to suffer concussion.

He was taken from an intraclub game in an ambulance last week after a sickening head knock with teammate Bailey Williams which teammates said was the loudest collision they had ever heard.

Williams is also in the concussion protocols from that head clash, with star midfielder Jack Macrae also battling with a low level hamstring issue.

He did the warmup at training on Thursday so could miss two weeks of training as a precaution rather than a full month.

Draftee Jordan Croft missed the Dogs? intraclub contest with a shin issue last week.

O?Driscoll was cleared of a fractured skull but the game was called off given the disturbing scenes.

While Shane Tuck?s coroner recommended less full contact sessions for players across summer, clubs are cramming match simulation sessions into a truncated pre-season.

Many senior players are not in full training until December and then have a three-week Christmas break, community camps and mandated four-day breaks in February.

So ahead of Zero Round in the first week of March many training sessions have a portion of match simulation involving regular or full contact.

Link

That's a shame for Jack Mac but it doesn't sound like it will slow him down too much.

Thanks Axe.

We tend to take it for granted that it?s a contact sport, but incidents like O?Driscoll?s really bring it home. I wonder if in 10 to 20 years time our beloved game will be almost unrecognisable due to the need to protect players from severe impact injuries.