Article courtesy of www.afl.com.au
IT IS one of the more eyebrow-raising sights at the NAB AFL Draft Combine. Amid 100 of the finest and fittest young footballers in the land, a handful hobble around on crutches, unable to join in the testing procedures because injury has cursed them before their AFL careers have begun.
The injured players go to the camp because they can do the odd test and because they can be interviewed by clubs. It also fuels the players' ambitions to be in an environment in which they are rubbing shoulders with so many fellow young guns.
But as unfair as it might be, there's always the question of whether the inability to join the testing damages a player's draft prospects. Recruiters try to work out whether the injury will recur in coming years. Is it a sign of a body that’s susceptible to injury?
On the other side, a player's ability to deal with injury can actually enhance his draft prospects. Mitch Hallahan might be one such case.
Hallahan hopped around the AIS during the draft combine because of an ankle injury. But it was an injury he sustained before the season; the tough midfielder learned to deal with his inconvenience to the extent that he enhanced his draft prospects.
"I injured the ankle at the start and played with it," he said. "I just carried it through the year."
Hallahan rolled his left ankle during a basketball match at the Stingrays' pre-season camp in February. He was later appointed a captain of the Dandenong Stingrays and Vic Country teams.
The ankle held together long enough for him to impress greatly as a bore-in midfielder with superb leadership skills, but his injury eventually told.
"In the end, I was fatigued," he said. "Other parts of the body had to compensate for the ankle. I fell apart."
Hallahan rolled his 'good' ankle before the Stingrays' final against the North Ballarat Rebels. He got through that game and the following week's loss to Calder Cannons before going under the knife and having floating bone fragments removed the area around his right ankle.
He spoke to his manager Paul Connors about delaying the procedure until after the draft combine, only to decide against it. His inability to join in the testing at the draft combine was frustrating, but not the end of the world.
"My priority was playing good footy through the year and I did that," Hallahan said. "It's not about testing."
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Last Modified on 18/11/2010 15:42
