The Gold Coast Suns expect to find out today if Gary Ablett‘s season is over after the star on-baller dislocated his shoulder in Saturday’s five-point victory over Collingwood at Metricon Stadium.
Ablett was taken from the field in the third quarter, clearly in pain after his shoulder popped out of place when he was flung to the ground in a tackle from tagger Brent McCaffer. Speculation is rife about how long Ablett will be absent for. Three weeks has been spoken about as the minimum, but if Ablett has suffered bone damage and needs surgery, his season will be over.
Already a two-time winner of the Brownlow Medal, Ablett was hot favourite to claim a third this year after producing another sublime season. The 30-year-old’s form has been one of the reasons why the Suns have inhabited the AFL top eight for most of 2014 and are heavily tipped to take part in their first finals series.
In other news, Hawthorn defender Brian Lake faces a suspension or heavy fine following his ugly, prolonged choke on North Melbourne opponent Drew Petrie on Friday night.
Lake’s actions have been universally condemned by football commentators, but Petrie has done his best to play down the incident. Speaking on The Sunday Footy Show, Petrie said he never felt in danger of passing out. “I’m okay. (It’s a) physical game,” he said. “Things happen within games. We both got up and played on. No one was hurt.”
Similar choking incidents earlier in the season resulted in $3000 fines being handed out to GWS forward Jeremy Cameron and Richmond forward Tyson Vickery.
