Former West Coast Eagle Karl Langdon holds major concerns for Nic Naitanui’s future, after it was revealed the star ruckman could miss the start of the season.
Naitanui tore his ACL in round 22, 2016, and has endured a slow rehabilitation phase, filled with setbacks.
While the Eagles held out hope he could return during the finals series last year if they advanced to the penultimate weekend, the full extend of Naitanui’s ailment has now been discussed.
Orthopaedic surgeon Peter Annear, who performed Naitanui’s knee operation, has explained the medical setbacks the 27-year-old has suffered.
“When you rupture your ACL that is one part of the injury, but it’s often the secondary injury (which is also of concern),” Annear told The Australian.
“He had a big bone injury and that was very much why on the medical side of things, we have gone slower with him.”
According to Langdon, bone-on-bone issues are holding Naitanui back, which could cast major doubts over his footballing future.
“At the Eagles, the rumour I’ve heard floating around, is he has a bit of bone-on-bone in his knee,” he told Sportsday WA.
“If you have bone-on-bone, you naturally have pain. If that’s the case, he would have pain management with that.
“If that turns out to be true, his time in the game is limited.”
Four-time Ross Glendinning Medallaist Paul Hasleby believes rushing Naitanui back would be a determent to his preparations.
“Nic Naitanui hasn’t done too much, he is still yet to get involved in the full match practice,” he said.
“He didn’t look like he was moving and jumping at 100 percent for mine.
“I don’t think we will see him during the JLT and to bring him in rusty without a game, I don’t think is doing him a favour because you need to get confidence in his knee.
“I wouldn’t get him ready for round one.”
West Coast has already ruled the 2012 All-Australian out of this weekend’s JLT Community Series opener against Port Adelaide.
“He won’t participate this weekend and he might play in our final JLT match," club CEO Trevor Nisbett told The Australian.
“But we won’t play him if there’s any doubt about his conditioning or any lingering knee soreness.
“His graft is fine and it will get resolved. Our approach to his comeback is that we’re just taking it slowly, slowly.”
Naitanui didn’t play in 2017 due to an ACL injury, but was one of the Eagles most prized assets prior to that.
West Coast desperately missed his presence last year, as the likes of Drew Petrie, Nathan Vardy and Jonathan Giles controlled the ruck spot.
Over his 146-match career, he has averaged 12.1 disposals and 24.2 hitouts per game.
Listen to Karl Langdon and Paul Hasleby discuss Nic Naitanui’s setback on Sportsday WA in the player below!