GAVIN Field has taken great pride in not missing games through injury during his career both in college and the SBL but bad luck has struck in 2016 and the Cockburn Cougars captain will be forced to watch Saturday night's Grand Final from the sidelines.

Field played every single one of his games while he was in college at the University of West Georgia and he has never missed an SBL at the Cougars through injury up until this year.

But unfortunately for the captain, 2012 championship star and last year's MVP runner-up, it has been a 2016 season of bad luck beginning with a calf injury that saw him miss five games but then he was looking good upon return.

He starred in the final regular season game where the Cougars secured the minor premiership by beating the Joondalup Wolves at Wally Hagan Stadium with 33 points and 11 rebounds.

Field then again was playing well in Game 1 of the quarter finals against the Perry Lakes Hawks with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists up until the last quarter when he landed awkwardly on his arm after battling with Hawks captain Ben Purser.

Initially he didn’t think the damage was too bad and he sat out the rest of the game as the Cougars just held on to take Game 1 and then without him lose the second game on the road but win Game 3 back at home and then defeat the Geraldton Buccaneers in two games of the semi finals.

The good news is that the Cougars are in the Men's SBL Grand Final on Saturday night against the defending champion Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre.

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But the bad news is that the man who has prided himself on his resiliency won't be there to lead Cockburn into battle with his elbow injury turning out to be much more severe than anybody first expected.

After initially thinking six weeks of rest would be all it needs, he knew his season was over and telling his teammates who finished on top of the ladder and were gunning for a championship was one of the hardest things he's had to do.

"It didn’t actually hurt that much when I first did it so I thought I would move my arm and see how I would go getting movement into it, but I didn’t have much luck. At that point we were up 20 so I thought I would sit out and come back the next day to get it checked out," Field said.

"I did all the tests with X-rays to rule out some things and then I thought I could rule out other stuff through different scans. My sister actually works for them so that helps me get the results pretty quick.

"The first news I got was that I would be out for six weeks and that hit me pretty hard because it meant I was done. One of the hardest things I had to do was tell the team that I was done and seeing the look on their faces, but at the same time I had to try and ensure them that they can do it without me. I tried to be as upbeat as I could but it was tough."

Further scans showed the damage to Field's elbow more closely resembled a knee that required a full reconstruction and now he has undergone that operation.

He hopes to be ready to roll for the start of the 2017 season and he could very well come out able to shoot just well left-handed as he can with his right.

"I got more and more tests, and it turned out it was worse than they originally thought and I had to have surgery. Luckily I got rushed through and I had the surgery five days after the injury," he said.

"I completely tore the ligament off one end of one anchor point and partially tore it off another, so it was pretty intense surgery. I'm now looking at about six months out. The good thing about it is that being an arm once I get the cast off, I can start running.

"I'll start shooting left-handed as well and work on that. There's positives out of it and I will become more able to use my left hand with everything and I'm already pretty good with it. At least I'll still be able to do a lot of the pre-season before next year apart from anything involving my arm."

Field set a new record at West Georgia having never missed a game for the Wolves surpassing the previous consecutive games mark of 83, and the only games he's ever missed with the Cougars before this year were not due to injury.

While it's tough to take now being on the sideline, he desperately wants to see the Cougars win their first championship since 2012 and third overall in the SBL.

"I still hold the record at my college for the most consecutive games. I actually played every single game of my career while I was there and I pride myself on not getting injured," Field said.

"The only other one I've had was when I had hip surgery in 2010 but that was when I was back home from college so it didn’t affect me playing. Having an injury like this is a shock and I'm not used to being told I can't play for a long time.

"In that last Joondalup game, I was feeling good and thought I was playing well and getting back in the flow of the team, but the way of the world is that was the last game I was able to complete. As bittersweet as it is for me, I'm proud of the guys for getting to the Grand Final and I hope we win another premiership."

Field certainly wouldn't say that he is enjoying watching from the sidelines during this finals series but he's trying to make the most of it and helping out the team and coaches as much as he can.

"It's very tough watching from the sidelines. In the first game against Geraldton they hit a three to tie the game and we called a time out, and I turned and looked to our girls who were sitting behind us and said I wish I was playing," he said.

"But I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help and giving the guys some advice, and even giving Parsons some advice from time to time. I did that anyway as a player, but now I'm in closer contact to him. It is tough obviously not being part of it but I do as much as I can for what I've copped right now."

The great strength of the Cougars this season has been their depth and that's something Field is confident can see them win Saturday night's Grand Final against the Wolves.

"I believe our guys can do it," Field said.

"Matt praises our depth and we have guys for example like Jaarod Holmes who started every game last year for Kalamunda and is only playing 10 minutes a game for us, but we have people like that who can come in and fill a role for us.

"We were 12 deep and now with me out, we go 11 deep so there's plenty of scoring, defence and everything out there for our team."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Sebpix Photography