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Agony for Tigers
13 March 2003 Herald Sun
By MARK ROBINSON

BRAD Ottens' season - and perhaps Richmond's - is in turmoil after it was revealed yesterday he will miss at least 12 games because of a pro-lapsed disc in his back.



Bad news: Brad Ottens will miss at least 12 games.



It is a similar injury to the one which ended Gary Lyon's career, and severely disrupted the careers of Carlton's Ang Christou and Melbourne's Guy Rigoni.

Ottens, who had complained of back soreness for three weeks, last night had a micro-disectomy on the L5 disc at the base of his spine.

After playing against Carlton in a practice match at the weekend, the 23-year-old ruckman again consulted club doctor Chris Bradshaw complaining of pins and needles in his left leg and foot.

Tigers director of football Greg Miller said yesterday the damage was unknown.

"We don't know if it's more acute than Christou's or Rigoni's, other than to say surgery has advanced in the past few years on the lower back," Miller said.

Ottens last night described the injury as "pretty bad".

"The disc is rubbing against the nerves in my back and it was referring down the leg," he told Fox Footy.

"It's pretty uncomfortable just to be sitting, but it's not too bad. It just seemed to be getting worse and worse.

"I played on Saturday and pulled up really sore and that's when I started getting nerve feelings down my legs."

Bradshaw immediately diagnosed the complaint and, after visiting two specialists, the operating table was the only option.

Miller said: "We are confident of a full recovery and are satisfied and confident of the procedure."

While the club yesterday speculated that Ottens would begin rehabilitation in a month and would probably miss only three months, sports physician Dr Peter Larkins hinted the injury could mean a season on the sidelines.

"It is a very unpredictable injury," Larkins said.

"We know the injury can be quite significant. There are ones who do get better in a couple of months and there are ones, if you talk to Guy Rigoni or Ang Christou, we know how long it's taken them - a year.

"It's very difficult to predict how long he will be out. They basically don't know."

The disc is the cushioning system between the vertebrae. It can be affected by simple tasks such as lifting the shopping out of the car, bending over, even sneezing.

Lyon spent three months on his stomach after his operation.

"It's easy to do, but not easy to say how long you're going to be out," Larkins said.

The injury, only two weeks before the season-opener, is a massive blow to Richmond's finals prospects.

The Tigers' game plan relies heavily on its three big men: Matthew Richardson, Greg Stafford and Ottens.

The injury follows six months of off-field drama for Ottens, including a sinus operation and being impaled on a stake after falling from a tree in his back yard.

Miller said specialists told Ottens it was "possible but unlikely" the fall from the tree had been the start of the problem.

Ottens said he was confident he could return by Round 10.

"I spoke to the surgeon today. He explained it all to me, what the chances were of it happening again and it all looks pretty good," he said.
 
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Frawley feels pain too
13 March 2003 Herald Sun
By MIKE SHEAHAN

DANNY Frawley played full-back for St Kilda for 10 years. He knows what it's like to be under siege

Now he knows what it's like as a coach, and the stakes are significantly higher as a coach.

Brad Ottens has gone down two weeks before the 2003 season-opener, a season critical to Frawley's hopes of a continuing career as Richmond coach. All coaches want all their players up and running at this time of year; this coach desperately wanted this player up and running.

Richmond's plans for the new season were based on the height, marking strength and goalkicking power of Ottens, Matthew Richardson, Greg Stafford and Ray Hall.

They contributed 99 goals in 2002 in what was a dismal year for the club, Richardson and Stafford both enduring interrupted seasons.

This was the year the talented, exciting Ottens was to blossom into a star.

He is 23, has played 99 games and kicked 126 goals - and he is in hospital and out of action for at least three months.

Frawley is wearing a brave face. He must.

The coach can't be exhibiting signs to his troops that his big gun has fallen overboard on the eve of battle, and all is lost.

His neighbours might tell a different tale.

It is a sickening blow for the Tigers, particularly after such an inglorious start to the year.

The coach craves a good year, too. The Tigers tumbled from third to 14th last year. Punt Rd may be familiar with failure, but its tolerance hasn't improved.

The club has changed coach 10 times since its most recent premiership win in 1980.

While Ottens was a touch disappointing last year, he was asked to do several different jobs and couldn't settle as a forward or a ruckman.

Opposition coaches will be sorry to learn of the seriousness of his problem, but they won't be sorry to know he won't be running out against them until the second half of the season, at the earliest.

While Frawley hasn't lost an arm or a leg, in football terms, losses don't come much bigger.

The ray of sunshine is the opportunity for Richo to rise to the challenge and give the club both excellence and consistency.

It's a long time since he captivated all of us for six months with 177 marks and 91 goals. It was 1996.

He remains a magnificent athlete, if prone to injury, and there's never been a more appropriate time to match his talent with consistency.