Dahlhaus give thumbs up to medicos
IT could have been so different for Luke Dahlhaus.
During the first quarter of the Western Bulldogs’ thrilling Round 12 win over Port Adelaide, ruckman Tom Campbell fell over the midfielder’s legs.
Some club officials, and Dahlhaus himself, feared the three letters that every sportsperson dreads – ACL.
Having seen skipper Bob Murphy go down with exactly that in Round 3, Dahlhaus knew what it meant, but a bit of luck with where his teammate Campbell’s 106kg landed may have saved his season.
He was part of the Bulldogs’ injury carnage but missed only six weeks with a medial ligament injury, and has been thanking his lucky stars – and the club’s medical team – ever since.
“I actually played another five minutes after doing it and I remember thinking ‘jeez, this feels wobbly’,” Dahlhaus said.
“I said to (club physio) Chris Bell, ‘come and have a look at this’. He moved it and I went ‘oh’. Immediately he’s gone ‘that’s a medial – six weeks’. And he was exactly right. The scans (were spot on) and it was exactly six weeks.
“I’m just thanking the lord that it wasn’t an ACL and that big Tommy Campbell didn’t land on the other side. Thank God.
“We’ve been lucky, even though we’ve had some injuries, to get (Jack) Macrae and Libba (Tom Liberatore) back as well as quick as we did. Jongy (Lin Jong) as well.”