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oh.my.god.
i have been at work all day and nite...hadnt heard anything from the game except we won. my mate msgd me saying bally got injured...
i had NO idea it could be this serious.
poor luke. if its off the bone im devastated for him...he was just getting everything together. as others have said he doesnt deserve this. and he will be shattered not to play out harvs last games with him (it this is his last year..)
please please PLEASE let it not be as bad as we think. i dont think i want to see vision of it...it sounds awful
i will miss you bally. but i guess you just didn't want to be here.
heres hoping you are regretting that choice on that last day in september 2010 - go saints.
ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon was hopeful last night that Luke Ball had escaped from a brutal collision with no more than a corked thigh.
But there was mounting speculation that Ball, helped from the ground in the final minutes, may have also torn his left hamstring.
Ball bravely attacked a contest in the forward line, copping friendly head-high fire from Justin Koschitzke, before appearing to hyper-extend his leg as he landed.
Asked later if Ball had suffered a cork, Lyon replied: "Honest, I don't lie to you."
Although there is no doubt Ball has a corked thigh, there are concerns he may have been cut down by something more sinister.
Some reports last night had Ball ripping the hamstring off the bone, but leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins said the Saint appeared to suffer a more standard tear.
"He was icing it halfway up the leg. If it was torn off the bone, it would be higher," Larkins said.
"But there is concern that there's a tear as well as a cork. All will be revealed by Tuesday, but I would say he would definitely miss next week.
"It might be a 3-4 week hamstring injury. He gave it a big stretch."
Losing the inspirational Ball would be a bitter blow to the Saints, who grabbed seventh place on the ladder with a fighting eight-point win against Port Adelaide at Telstra Dome yesterday.
A massive month starts on Saturday night with an MCG blockbuster against a Collingwood side fighting for its life.
But Lyon, thrilled with the commitment of Ball and others, did not seem too worried about his reliable warrior leaving the field.
Lyon said Ball had told him he just felt a little sore.
"They (medical staff) are pretty confident. It was a massive collision . . . they haven't assessed him," Lyon said.
Lenny Hayes also appeared restricted late in the game and had work on his hamstrings, but looks certain to play against the Magpies.
Veteran Robert Harvey suffered mild concussion in a savage tackle by Port's Jacob Surjan, but returned in the last quarter to wild applause.
The Saints' clash with Collingwood looms as season-defining, but Lyon was in no mood to talk it up as an "eight-point" game.
Lyon said he had already started to think about the Pies, but didn't want to share his thoughts.
"No thoughts at the minute . . . none I want to share publicly," Lyon said.
"It's a really important game . . . every week's defining.
"You don't get any more points, but we're running out of opportunities to get enough wins on the board."
St Kilda showed marked improvement in its contested work yesterday and Lyon was thrilled with the bravery and commitment of his players - particularly when the game was on the line in the final 10 minutes.
But its forward line did not function smoothly for the most part.
The Saints had 61 forward 50 entries for 14 goals and still lack a mid-sized leading target. "That's something we're working on," Lyon said.
The Saints trailed by 13 points heading into the final term, but Lyon said he reminded his players that Port's last quarters "haven't been great".
There was also a feeling Port was vulnerable with so many young players in the team.
But Lyon scoffed at suggestions this was a game the Saints were raging favourites to win.
"There are no easy ones," Lyon said.
"They just won a Showdown against Adelaide and Adelaide's gone on to win two after that.
"It's always a relief to get four points when you're down at three-quarter time by 13 points."
Immediately after yesterday’s game the Club wasn’t able to confirm the extent of classy midfielder Luke Ball’s injury due to the unusual nature of its occurrence. Scans this morning revealed that Luke has strained his left hamstring. The strain is to the belly of the muscle, not the tendon.
Luke will now undertake a standardised rehabilitation process for 2-3 weeks.
I hope this is the worst of it and nothing further injury wise for Bally. He'll be incredibly hard to replace, but like it's been said, someone must now step up to the line! I would have been gutted if it was a season ending injury. Over the next 3 weeks it could well be season ending for the entire team. We must lift! ...and so to must Saints fans! Especially this week!
When they created LENNY HAYES (in the shadow of Harvs) they forgot to break the mold (again)- hence the Supremely Incredible Jack Steven!!
Immediately after yesterday’s game the Club wasn’t able to confirm the extent of classy midfielder Luke Ball’s injury due to the unusual nature of its occurrence. Scans this morning revealed that Luke has strained his left hamstring. The strain is to the belly of the muscle, not the tendon.
Luke will now undertake a standardised rehabilitation process for 2-3 weeks.
Fingers crossed that's all it is...not 2-3 weeks for the next 6 weeks...though I would like to still be playing in 6 weeks...
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.html
ST KILDA will be without Luke Ball for the next two-to-three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury yesterday. Ball injured his left hamstring when he bravely attacked a marking contest in the forward line late in the Saints' eight-point win over Port Adelaide, copping a friendly head-high fire from Justin Koschitzke, before appearing to hyper-extend his leg as he landed.
After the match, Saints coach Ross Lyon said Ball had only suffered a corked thigh, saying "Honest, I don't lie to you" when quizzed by reporters.
But the club today confirmed that scans revealed he had also strained the belly of his hamstring, not the tendon, which will take him two-to-three weeks to rehabilitat
it has roo taking the mark to the left of the photo with a port player, armo across ball, bringing him to ground. Caption "ball collides with riewoldt"...... do they actually look at the pictures before they write the caption?
FQF
loyal in the good times and bad
In richo I trust
2013 trade/draft best ever?
Billings - future brownlow medallist Longer - future best ruck
Dunstan - future captain Eli - future cult hero
Acres - future norm smith
Solar wrote:anyone read the age and see the picture
it has roo taking the mark to the left of the photo with a port player, armo across ball, bringing him to ground. Caption "ball collides with riewoldt"...... do they actually look at the pictures before they write the caption?
In a sense they were right the "ball" did collide with Nick R, it's just that it was the football and not the Luke Ball!
markp wrote:Not great news, but as good as you could hope for.
true, but with Bally out for 3 weeks we are 50/50 to win each match you'd think.
We can't replace him, Birss will help, but not a Bally!
Great competitor that Ball is, it's a bit over the top to suggest that his loss reduces us to a 50/50 outcome (unless it was from a 55/45 outcome, but I think we are better than that).
The loss of Ball hurts us tackle wise and defensively - hes not a noted clearance winner and doesnt bring the footy into fwd 50 or kick goals. That aside...what he did against 200 cm Brogan on the wing doesnt go on a stat sheet...
Interestingly Ball had 14 tackles on weekend...Mqualter had 9!! and Hayes 8........point is we need more to step in for pressure.
Enter Nick Dal Santo.
Not 1 tackle again on the weekend and and only 1 contested posession......we know where he needs to get better dont we?
Cmon Nick......nows the time to up the anti a tad...
Teflon wrote:The loss of Ball hurts us tackle wise and defensively - hes not a noted clearance winner and doesnt bring the footy into fwd 50 or kick goals. That aside...what he did against 200 cm Brogan on the wing doesnt go on a stat sheet...
While Ball is certainly a clearance player for us, interestingly on Saturday, he only had one. Compartively he had 3 inside 50s and kicked 1.1.
"Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits"
- Henry Ford
poor luke. if its off the bone im devastated for him...he was just getting everything together. as others have said he doesnt deserve this. and he will be shattered not to play out harvs last games with him (it this is his last year..)
