Rocca Out For 8 But Says He Was 'right To Play'

The Age

Tuesday June 24, 2008

Len Johnson, With AAP

COLLINGWOOD admitted yesterday that, in hindsight, it had gambled and lost in playing Anthony Rocca against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

With Travis Cloke missing the game through suspension, Collingwood ran out of key-forward options, with injuries during the game to Rocca and Ben Reid, who fractured a metatarsal bone in his foot.

Rocca will have surgery today to have two pins inserted in the tibia bone, just above his right ankle and close to a similar fracture received late last year. That fracture was closed with a single pin. Both he and Reid are expected to miss eight weeks.

The 30-year-old Rocca had Achilles surgery in the same ankle in 2005. He has been battling injury in the ankle from early in the home-and-away season. On Sunday, he was a late inclusion to the line-up but went off in the third quarter after appearing to re-injure the ankle after he kicked long.

Yesterday, both Rocca and Collingwood insisted he had been fit to play. "I was right to play," Rocca told Ten News. "I was definitely right to play . . . but come the third quarter it was no good."

Geoff Walsh, Collingwood's chief of football operations, admitted the inclusion of Rocca had backfired, but said there had been no sense that it was a risk at the time.

"I don't think we rolled the dice on it," Walsh said. "As it turned out, yeah, we did, but we certainly didn't make the selection knowing we were rolling the dice."

Walsh said Rocca had been keen to play all along, but the initial decision had been to rest him for another week. When defender Shane Wakelin had pulled out due to illness, the Magpies turned to Rocca. "The opinion of the medical staff and his own opinion was that he was ready, and right to play," Walsh said. "All the boxes were ticked that he was OK."

Walsh said the kick had apparently been the incident that caused the injury but Rocca had been feeling soreness in the ankle in the minutes before it. "We're not exactly sure it was the kick, but that gave him the jolt," he said.

Rocca will miss between six and 12 weeks, with Walsh saying his return would depend on the speed of his recovery and how the team was going at the time. Rocca will turn 31 in August.

Walsh said Rocca's size and athletic style of play put stress on his body but advice from Rocca's surgeon was that the latest injury was not career-ending.

"The surgeon says it will repair fine and (he) will be as good as gold," said Walsh.

Rocca is out of contract at the end of the year. There has been speculation he might ultimately follow older brother Saverio into a punting career in the American National Football League. Medical advice is, he has a future playing career, whether that lies at Collingwood or in the US.

Reid, who has played three games this season after playing three in his debut season last year, will not require surgery but will be on crutches for two to three weeks. He will then wear a protective boot and hopes to be back playing in eight weeks.

Collingwood's next game is against Sydney on Saturday week. Cloke has served his suspension and Walsh said ruckman Josh Fraser and midfielder/forward Leon Davis were both likely to return after missing the Bulldogs game with injury.

"Neither missed by too much," Walsh said of the pair, "and they're both confident (of playing). This week will be pretty light for them and, given the time-frame, we think both Fraser and Davis will be available."

? Adelaide veterans Simon Goodwin and Andrew McLeod are also feeling the demands of a gruelling season. Captain Goodwin is having to manage back problems and McLeod is fighting the latest flare-up of a knee complaint that may yet require surgery to clean out the overworked joint.

Crows football operations manager John Reid said both were dealing with significant wear and tear. "Simon's got a little bit of a problem with his back, nothing that's match-threatening, and the break is a good time for him to manage that and give it a bit of a spell," said Reid.

McLeod, who has battled knee pain since 1998, will visit a specialist this week to determine whether surgery is required.

"It's just a matter of re-assessing the management. We'll get him back to the specialist, double check, see how it's all going; we've got time to do that during the week," Reid said. "We don't regard it as major but you never know what the specialist will come back with."

Adelaide has lost its past two games and next faces Geelong. -- With AAP

© 2008 The Age

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