Headland may miss rest of AFL season
Under-fire Fremantle coach Mark Harvey has revealed more bad news, admitting midfielder Des Headland could miss the rest of the AFL season with a knee injury.
On the sidelines since round four, Headland keeps pulling up sore from training sessions, with the club suspecting there is more to the initial prognosis of bone bruising.
Harvey said a training session on Thursday would be a last chance for Headland to test out the injury, with a return in two months the best case scenario and missing the rest of the season the worst.
"It's not career (ending) stuff but he'll miss a fair chunk of this year," Harvey said.
"It's bone bruising and it might be a bit more than that. We are about to find out more.
He trains and then he jars up. He's had scans but there are different types of scans that you have for the reason that he keeps pulling up sore and jarring and that's after a month.
"We have to look deeper and see what it is.
"This (training session on Thursday) will be his last hurrah if you know what I mean to see if he can actually get out there and run and train. It's a pretty decent injury."
Already without Paul Hasleby for the season after a knee injury suffered in the first pre-season game, Harvey said injuries to top flight players were being mirrored across a competition he considers more intense than ever.
"If you speak to a lot of clubs there are a lot of serious injuries right across the board and I think the game is becoming more demanding," he said.
"I have spoken to a few other people from other clubs and they very much need the break now.
"Six of our top ten are out and that puts enormous stress on our whole list. Thirty-four players have been played and that is not something you want to so early in the season.
"It is forced upon you and we keep finding out more and more about the playing group."
As if injuries and surrendering a 50-point lead against the previously win-less Demons wasn't bad enough, two less-than-flattering television appearances by Harvey the day after poured more oil on the already flaming wreck of Fremantle's 2008 hopes.
Back in supposedly friendly territory at Dockers HQ, Harvey said he thought he handled himself satisfactorily in the aftermath of the Demons defeat and had no regrets about taking the Fremantle job.
"The timing wasn't great. How you handle those situations is important and you move on. I thought I handled it okay. (The criticism) was to be expected after losing that way," Harvey said.
"You expect to go through the highs and lows of coaching and this is probably one of the toughest periods you will go through as a coach. I know the game is unforgiving.
"But I am looking forward to it, what lies ahead and what we can do about it - and I think so are the playing group."
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