Cats use Lyon as example to help Esava

INJURED Geelong rising star Esava Ratugolea can draw inspiration from Melbourne great Garry Lyon as he embarks on his journey back from a sickening ankle break.

Ratugolea, who broke his ankle at the base of the leg in the second quarter of Saturday night’s win over Carlton, suffered a similar injury to that of Lyon in 1987. Lyon was also 19 when he suffered his leg break, but played in Round 1 the following year and finished his career as a 226-game champion of his club.

Ratugolea had surgery on Sunday to repair the break with a plate and screws inserted to stabilise the injury.

“There is some good news. It’s not the really bad break we have seen in the past with Michael Voss and Nathan Brown,” Cats coach Chris Scott said on AFL 360 last night.

“Interestingly, talking to Garry Lyon just before, he did both bones (in his leg in) Round 22 when he was 19, didn’t have surgery, plaster, played Round 1 the next year and didn’t have an issue with it.

“Hopefully that’s the case with ‘big Sav’.”

Scott admitted it was “hard to be too optimistic right at the moment” given the club had just lost a key cog in its forward line and a “much loved” character in the squad.

But the Cats are yet to rule the 19-year-old out of a return this season

“I wouldn’t say (he won’t play this year), but I can’t confirm he will be back either,” Scott said. “It’s just a bit of an unknown. It’s certainly not that really clear cut situation where they miss six or 12 months or whatever it is.”