Carlton veteran Sam Docherty has revealed he had severe considerations concerning the state of the MCG enjoying floor earlier than seeing two Geelong gamers go down with knee accidents.
All-Australian defender Tom Stewart is about for a stint on the sidelines with suspected medial ligament harm after slipping on the well-known venue’s turf throughout Friday night time’s conflict with Collingwood.
Cats teammate Sam De Koning additionally damage a knee in comparable vogue however returned to motion.
Docherty, who missed the 2018 and 2019 seasons due to ACL ruptures, performed on the MCG in Thursday night time’s season opener between the Blues and Richmond.
The 145-game defender mentioned a pre-match inspection of the enjoying floor – about half of which was relaid this month following two Ed Sheeran concert events – had put him on edge.
“I was extremely nervous when I walked out there pre-game and saw the differences in the turf – stuff that has been there for a while and then the newly-relaid stuff,” Docherty instructed 3AW on Saturday.
“I was surprised there weren’t any injuries in our game and watching last night was probably what I expected to happen.
“There is a reasonably important distinction between the 2 turfs.
“The newly-relaid stuff was quite hard but did move when you went over it, the grass spat up a bit.
“Then the previous MCG turf, they put a lot water making an attempt to get the brand new grass to sit down in, that was actually delicate.
“So it definitely presented some level of risk in my eyes and the MCG took that punt.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott was unimpressed with the turf, saying the MCG had scored an “own goal” with its administration of the enjoying floor.
Fellow coaches Damien Hardwick, Michael Voss, Simon Goodwin and Luke Beveridge did not elevate any points with the turf when requested about it after their matches.
Ahead of the season opener, MCC chief government Stuart Fox hit again at criticism of the venue operator’s administration of the enjoying floor, which arose through the build-up to spherical one.
“I’m really, really pleased,” Fox instructed SEN on Thursday.
“We finished Saturday night (March 12) and our turf team have been working really hard just finessing (the ground) now.
“When you look out now, there’s not a blade of grass misplaced.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
