Knee injury set to sideline Lara champion for season

LARA batter Andy Hughes is resigned to missing the rest of the GCA1 campaign as he comes to grips with a season-threatening knee injury.

Hughes retired hurt on five in Saturday’s win over North Geelong after twisting his knee while playing a cover-drive.

The star opener said he would be sidelined indefinitely.

“I had some X-rays on Saturday night and there’s some multiple fractures in my knee,” Hughes (pictured) said.

“There’s a little bit of floating bone in there as well so I’ve just got to get the MRI on Sunday.

“I’ve got an orthopaedic appointment (with a surgeon) Friday week to then get some more details.”

Hughes is in a knee brace and on crutches and will know more about the extent of the damage over the weekend.

The gifted right-hander said his knee “collapsed underneath me” as he played a shot early in his innings.

“I’ve dislocated my patella, which then I think has in turn fractured my knee,” he said.

“That’s what the doctor thinks has happened.

“I’m not going to know more until I get the MRI on Sunday.”

Hughes said it would be “wishful thinking” that he would be able to play again this season.

“I’ve got some medial ligament damage so that’s normally about six to eight weeks,” he said.

“There’s some floating bone in my knee so I would think I’ve probably got to get that cleaned out before it causes any more damage. When that gets booked in with Covid and stuff, I don’t know how booked up they are.”

The Cats champion played a straight bat when asked how disappointing the setback was from such an innocuous incident.

“Stiff s--t, I think, in the end,” he said. “What can you do about it? It just is what it is.”