For Melbourne, not surprisingly, injuries have played a key part in its frustrating season in 2012.
For all the areas focused upon by the new coaching staff under coach Mark Neeld, injuries are an unwanted area he must deal with. All coaches must. Not that he has used them as an excuse. He wouldn’t dream it. He is realistic enough to know that injuries are an unfortunate byproduct of the game.
“Injuries are part of the game and there are a few clubs going through that at the moment, so it tests your depth,” he said post-match.
“It’s testing our depth, but they certainly weren’t the reasons why we got beaten.”
Co-captain Jack Trengove said the loss of ruckman Mark Jamar and midfielder Nathan Jones pre-match couldn’t be used as a reason for the loss.
“They’re great players and you’d love to have them in your team every week, but we’ve got guys behind the scenes who are knocking on the door constantly,” he said.
“It was good to see and give opportunities to blokes like big Jake Spencer and he was serviceable, but you can’t put the loss down to them not being there.”
But in his first year, as Neeld examines and delves deep into the list, injuries have not helped Melbourne’s situation, particularly when it must be remembered that it entered the season in the bottom five clubs for games experience and age combined. (For the record, the Lions had 579 more games of experience than the Demons on Sunday). The Demons have averaged almost 11 players unavailable each round this season - and that was the number for round 14. So far, 34 players have been used by the Demons in 2012.
Melbourne was without its best two performers this season - Mitch Clark and Jones - against the Lions, and their loss was felt. The Demons could also have done with the services of Jamar, Liam Jurrah, Brad Green, Aaron Davey and Clint Bartram, who were also missing through injury.
During the early stages of the match, Tom McDonald came from the ground with a bleeding lung. He collided with Lions big man Daniel Merrett in a contest, which forced the emerging Demon defender to hospital and a subsequent trip back to Melbourne via a vehicle, rather than a flight.
The loss of McDonald on top of two late changes didn’t help, plus the fact that Jack Watts played on despite rolling his ankle added to Melbourne’s woes.
While recognising the impact of the injuries on the side, co-captain Jack Grimes said they opened up opportunities for some.
“With the guys that came out, we’d love to have [Jamar and Jones] in, but the guys that came in knew exactly what role to play,” he said.
“They got their opportunity and even though it was their first game for a while or they hadn’t played in the last couple of weeks - doesn’t mean we expect anything less of them.
“I thought the guys that came in did a pretty good job - Stef [Martin] and big Jake [Spencer] competed well in the ruck and [Rohan] Bail came back in and provided run, and that’s what we expect from him.”
And while the Demons didn’t spread or win enough uncontested possessions, the loss of key personnel - even before the match - didn’t help.
Even if the coaches and players keep a ‘carry on’ mentality, injuries test depth, structures, rotations and the flow on effect is confidence. If these are out of whack, then it becomes an even greater challenge. And, although teams can defy the odds, they generally have the experience and depth to cover.
Publicly coaches and players won’t concede it’s an issue, but when injuries strike, so do the chances of winning.
