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A bad break puts a star
rover out for a season
AUSSIE RULES
MELBOURNE: Star Melbourne ruck-
rover Greg Healy will have a knee recon-
struction this morning and will miss the
rest of the current Australian Football
League season.
Demons football manager John Sell
said the club's worst fears were con-
firmed yesterday after Healy visited a
specialist. Healy, 25, damaged the cruci-
ate ligament in his left knee during the
second quarter of Sunday's match
against St Kilda.
Sell described the news as a "severe
blow" for the club and for the former
Melbourne captain, who was the best-on
field for the Demons the previous week,
with 24 kicks and four handballs, against
Fitzroy.
Healy was the ninth Melbourne player
to undergo a knee reconstruction in the
past two years, Sell said.
Sell said it was too early to tell whether
captain Garry Lyon (groin) and forward
Rod Owen (corked thigh) would be
available for Saturday's match against
Carlton at VFL Park.
Footscray's Troy Moloney and St Kil-
da's Darren Davies are expected to miss
12 weeks after breaking their legs in
matches yesterday.
Along with Healy, the injuries were
the most serious of the fourth round and
prompted fresh support from coaches for
an extra interchange player to be al-
lowed. However, AFL commission
chairman Ross Oakley said any such in-
crease was unlikely to be introduced this
year.
Essendon's Kevin Sheedy, St Kilda's
Ken Sheldon and Melbourne's John
Northey are among those who claim lon-
ger seasons and higher-speed collisions
nave resulted in more injuries, and the
number of interchange players should be
increased from two to three.
Oakley said the annual club cost of
about $300,000 to employ an extra
league player would need to be consid-
ered by AFL clubs before any change was
made and suggested the considerations
would require more discussion.
St Kilda full-forward Tony Lockett
should be certain to make his first ap-
pearance for the season on Saturday fort-
night against Carlton.
Saints football manager Peter Hudson
said Lockett's bruised back would keep
him out against Collingwood on Satur-
day but there was "no doubt at all" the
big forward would be back after the
team's bye the following week.
Meanwhile, chief executive Rick Watt
said the club would not agree to transfer-
ring Saturday's game against the Magpies
from Moorabbin to a bigger stadium.
Watt said the club had agreed to
Essendon loses
two players for
two weeks
MELBOURNE: Essendon lost fringe
players Dean Bailey and Bradley Fox
for two weeks each after they were
found guilty of striking charges by the
AFL tribunal last night
But North Melbourne's Wayne
Schwass, who pleaded guilty to an abu-
sive language charge, escaped with a
severe reprimand and a $500 fine.
All three reports were made during
Saturday's match at the MCG by field
umpire Shane McDonald.
Bailey and Fox were both charged
with striking while attempting to spoil
North players marking the ball.
Bailey was reported after he leapt off
the ground and cannoned into Martyn,
who took a chest mark on North's half
back flank in the first quarter.
switch last year's game to the MCG to
accommodate a bigger crowd but was
disappointed later in the season when
Collingwood refused to move the return
encounter from its home at Victoria
Park.
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