Fagan’s fears for injuries
AFL:
With AFL players having been restricted to a handful of full-contact sessions, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan fears more of them will break down when the season resumes..
Fagan said it had been frustrating working under training protocols put in place before the AFL re-start next week, namely the limited contact sessions.
This week teams will be restricted to two full-group contact sessions plus another where players must be limited to groups of six.
Next week they will have only one full-group contact session before playing their round two clash.
Teams are in only their second week of full-contact training as they emerge from the lengthy coronavirus shutdown.
Asked if there could be player wear and tear this year due to limited preparation, Fagan said: “Injury rates could go up.
“We don’t know. It’s a great experiment this year to find out. “We are all hoping it doesn’t.
“We are doing as much as we can in our programs to mitigate that, allowing good recovery time between sessions, making sure we progress the load gradually and not too fast.
“So far, so good for us.”
Silverstone is set to get approval to stage back-to-back Formula One races, possibly in August, with the British Government reportedly poised to exempt those in the sport from having to selfisolate for 14 days on arrival in the UK.
Fagan gave the Lions a near clean bill of health for their June 13 round two Gabba clash with Fremantle with just defender Marcus Adams (foot) unavailable.
He said his squad had emerged unscathed from a 40minute practice game last Friday that featured ruckman Stefan Martin returning from a serious knee injury, with another 80-minute game planned for the week’s end.
Fagan confirmed Martin would run out against the Dockers despite suffering a posterior cruciate ligament injury in their season-opening loss to Hawthorn.
“He’s the first bloke ever to do an ACL (sic) and not miss a game in a season - he’s a freak,” Fagan laughed.
The Lions mentor also played down concerns for skipper Dayne Zorko who kept a low profile last week,nursing a sore Achilles.
But Fagan admitted he had no idea how his team would back up from their 2019 breakthrough in which they finished second after the home and away rounds, booking their first finals campaign in 10 years.
“It is going to be a magical mystery tour this season. I don’t know what is going to happen but it will be interesting,” he said.