Ashley Browne is the senior writer for The AFL Record. He will be contributing a weekly column on SEN.com.au throughout the 2019 AFL season.
A collective shudder was felt by just about every player in the AFL when news emerged on Sunday night that Ollie Wines, quite possibly the captain of Port Adelaide this season, had hurt his shoulder while water skiing.
Working shoulders are an essential tool of the trade and every player understands the difficulty of even attempting to play with shoulders that are not close to 100 per cent.
Ankles aside, is there a part of a player’s body more likely to carry strapping during a match than their shoulders?
But there is a deeper issue at play. For as well recompensed as AFL players are in 2019, there are strict limitations as to what sporting activities they are permitted to take part in away from the footy field.
Road cycling is fine. Trail bike riding is not. Boxing in the gym is OK. Boxing in the ring is not. Nor are soccer, American football, karate, judo, hang gliding and bungee jumping. While not officially forbidden, snow skiing has long been discouraged because to take a tumble on the slopes is to invite the possibility of a torn ACL or worse.
Water skiing was not thought to be problematic, but with Wines likely to miss the start of the season after his injury on the weekend, that particular activity might soon find itself to the ‘hazardous’ list on the AFL’s Standard Playing Contract, much to the chagrin of players around the country.
It is such a fraught time of year for players and clubs. Yes, AFL footballers are as entitled as everyone else to have time away and enjoy some rest and recreation. The season is still far away enough that the players get to enjoy mandated four-day breaks away from their clubs. The Australia Day long weekend provided clubs with the perfect opportunity to schedule one of those.
But they did so with their hearts in their mouths and the injuries to Wines and to new Carlton forward Alex Fasolo illustrate why.
Elite athletes they might be, but boys will still be boys. Hot weather, an inviting lake and the back of a speedboat? Who can blame Wines for finding it too hard to resist.
Fasolo is another matter. Getting liquored at a party, even in January, is not an indicator of professionalism for someone brought to a new club partly because of the experience and leadership he brings. But to skylark and now be in doubt for the season opener is a huge black mark against him and he’ll need to play pretty well upon his return to square the ledger.
With Sam Docherty out for the season once again, Matthew Kreuzer undergoing knee surgery and now Fasolo, it has been a challenging summer for the Blues. Every report of Charlie Curnow training the house down and No.1 pick Sam Walsh being as good as advertised is counterbalanced by news of an injury.
Alex Fasolo fractured his arm at an Australia Day party.
The Blues paid big bucks to lure fitness guru Andrew Russell from Hawthorn at the end of last season and he’s certainly earning his money from the start.
The good news for the clubs is that the distractions are almost over. As the calendar ticks over into February, football life becomes that bit more urgent. Contact becomes more frequent at training. Mouthguards need to be at the ready. Match simulation sessions evolve into full-scale intra-club practice games. AFLX is three weeks away and the JLT series starts at the end of the month.
And with that comes more fatigue and more time needed for recovery. Which means less time for water skiing, boozy parties and other activities that might run counter to peak AFL performance.
From now, perhaps only the St Kilda Festival on February 10, a favourite haunt for AFL players and after which, in 2015, Collingwood pair Josh Thomas and Lachie Keeffe tested positive for taking contaminated illicit drugs and were suspended for two years under the League’s anti-doping policy, lurks dangerously on the horizon.
Club football managers will sit anxiously that night, hoping and praying for their phones not to light up.
Get through that and it's full steam ahead for the season to start. There will still be injuries; of that you can be certain. But chances are they will be totally to do with football which, while not ideal, is perhaps just that bit easier to stomach.