A Bushranger’s Bad Knee, a Blue’s Good Heart
Funny old game, this one. A kid from the Murray Bushrangers does her knee at the worst possible time, right when the AFL Draft is staring her in the face, and the thing everyone’s talking about isn’t the injury at all – it’s what a young Carlton player did for her afterwards. That’s footy for you. Still finds a way to remind you it’s bigger than the contest.
The cruellest timing in the game
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it till they drag me out of the outer – the ACL is the most heartless injury in sport. Doesn’t care if you’re a star or a battler, doesn’t care if it’s Round 3 of a nothing season or the week before the draft that decides whether you get picked up by a club or spend the next twelve months wondering what might have been. This Bushrangers prospect had done all the hard yards, all the pre-season running, all the early mornings in Shepparton or wherever these young ones train these days, and then the body just lets go. No warning, no malice, just bad luck wearing a footy jumper.
Back in my day we didn’t even know what an ACL was half the time, you just copped a
