Fremantle’s Brennan Cox has been sidelined due to a unique injury.
Cox was diagnosed with an infection which caused him to miss training on Tuesday as well as being ruled out of the club’s upcoming intra-club on Friday.
Dockers coach Justin Longmuir revealed that it was a “skateboarding incident” which caused the injury as Cox had a scab that got infected after a fall.
“Well, it happened outside, he had a skateboarding incident which is not ideal but, you know, it wasn’t serious,” Longmuir told reporters.
“The scab got infected and left him in the situation he's in. It's something we could have stopped.
“The infection looks like it has cleared up, he’s gotten on top of the swelling.
“Now it’s just making sure we don’t put him out there too early and put him at risk of injuring another part of his body.”
While the 2022 All-Australian squad member won’t miss significant time due to the infection, the injury has drawn the ire of Kane Cornes.
Having been critical of players getting injured from non-football pursuits in the past, Cornes has come up with a solution that he feels will keep players from taking similar risks.
“On Brennan Cox, I’ve got the solution for this,” Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.
“Players shouldn’t be participating in extreme sports, Brennan Cox isn’t 16, he’s 24 years of age, skateboarding is an injury waiting to happen.
“If you want to skateboard, go ahead but if you get injured - skateboarding, water-skiing, snow-skiing, jumping out of a plane, jumping off a rock or like Sydney Stack last year riding a motorbike or going down extreme hills on a mountain bike – that’s fine, do it, live your life.
“But if you get injured and you miss football, you don’t get paid for the portion you are injured.
“It’s a simple solution to me, if you’re playing basketball and you go to dunk the ball like Curnow did and he misses three years from a knee injury, you don’t get paid.
“Too bad, you’re a footballer, you’re paid to play football, not basketball.”
Cox is expected to be available for Fremantle’s unofficial pre-season match against Adelaide in Cockburn on February 24.
The Dockers will then play an official practice match against Port Adelaide at Fremantle Oval on March 2 before a Round 1 clash at St Kilda on March 19 at Marvel Stadium.