By Marty Jeffrey
April 21 2003

Every year it seems that some teams have to cop their fair share of injuries during the course of the season as they push for finals, the flag or to avoid the spoon. This year at this stage, it seems the Bulldogs are the team that injuries have hit the most. Whilst the list is not very long, the quality and importance of the players on the list is enough to make doggie fans cringe.

Of course the big one is the knee injury to Chris Grant. On the official Western Bulldogs website (westernbulldogs.com.au), he give the people at home an insight to how he is recovering. It is hoped that he makes a suceesful comeback next season. However, it may not be easy given that some players who have had knee injuries have had problems afterwards (e.g. David Schwartz, Lee Walker, Shaun Rehn).

Grant is not the only player that has had a season ending knee injury. On Saturday night at the dome, promising midfielder Mark Alvey tried to make a tackle and ruptured an ACL ligament in his knee. He will also be out for the rest of the season, and at least will have someone to be with him in rehabilitation sessions.

There was some even worse news today as a result of the match on Saturday night. Matthew Robbins has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career with the Bulldogs and before that with Geelong. Saturday night saw Robbins back into a pack and cop a nasty whack to the back of the head. After some observations today, there are rumorus that he is out indefinitely, another blow as he would be expected to figure in the midfield rotation. If there is a positive from that though, there is the possibility of our only rookie Matthew Boyd to be promoted to the senior list.

There are also 2 victims of hamstring injuries. Even worse for the Bulldogs, these players would be expected to fill a key defensive post when they are required (and they certainly are right now). Steve Kretiuk has missed many games with injury over his career, and at this stage appears likely to miss this week's trip to Brisbane. Ben Harrison is more likely to come back sooner after injuring his hamstring in round 1 against Geelong.

A third 'hammy' victim, Lindsay Gilbee, impressed in the VFL with Werribee last Sunday and is in line for a recall to senior ranks this week. The bottom line is, the sooner these players manage to return to the paddock (particularly the long term victims), the better the team and club would be.