Addie absence adds to Panthers’ pain as injury list grows
BELL Post Hill may be without its reigning premiership captain against Bannockburn this week after Cam Addie sat out Saturday’s final term with a shoulder injury.
The scenario could not have come at a worse time for coach Brad Martin, who only had 12 members of his 2017 senior premiership side avail- able for selection at the weekend.
“We’ll see how Cam comes up — it was a bit of a stinger so we’re going to assess it throughout the week,” Martin said.
“We probably haven’t had an absentee list this long in quite some time, but good teams overcome these things and we’ve only lost two games, so it’s not the end of the world.”
The Panthers were without Jack Yates (ankle), Tane Rabbas (ankle) and Blake Podnar (calf) while midfield veteran Caleb Bacely remains overseas.
Then at 10am Nick Costello, who was ranked second on the GDFL’s goalkicking leaderboard, was ruled out for family reasons.
But even with 10 key names sidelined, both Martin and his players were deflated post-match, with veteran Shane Lymer comparing the defeat to their last loss to Winchelsea in 2010.
“Today highlights what we weren’t doing,” Martin said.
“Winchelsea worked hard for the football and due to their pressure we went away from the way we wanted to play footy.
“They really stung us in that period after halftime and it was tough to come back from that.”
Bell Post Hill will next take on Bannockburn, a club that has achieved the rare feat of beating the Panthers at Myers Reserve in recent years.
“They’ve hit some form and started to settle as a team, so if today was a massive challenge then this week will be even bigger to follow up and play Bannockburn,” he said.