Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Was devastated to learn about Smith today, wishing him all the best with his recovery.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Was devastated to learn about Smith today, wishing him all the best with his recovery.

Someone has to lead the re-hab group in Tommy's spot, Smith takes the job as a top young kid facing time off. Shame too, I thought he was ready to rip the shreads out of the AFL.

[Doc26]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Has an ACL been confirmed or is it still speculation ?

[dog town]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Smith injury happened right in front of me. Looked horrible the way it buckled. You could see him take a couple of seconds to realize it was bad then he let out a frustrated shout. Terrible to see.

First time I have seen a live VFL game this year. Impressed by the whole package.

Could be really tough to do given that we are probably a bit big up forward already but I would like to see Fletcher play forward in the VFL. Not with a view to him being a forward long term necessarily just to free him up and get him creating a bit. Would round him off a bit I think.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Has an ACL been confirmed or is it still speculation ?

Yes according to Terry Wallace on SEN.

[anfo27]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Gutted to hear about Clay. The hardest kid I have ever seen, would run through a brick wall to win the footy. All the best Clay and all bulldogs fans are thinking of you and wishing you well.

[ratsmac]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

I'm shattered about the Clay Smith news. He is our Callan Ward replacement .
All the best Clay for your recovery.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

One of my favourite players.

Gutted.

[jeemak]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Likewise, I'm gutted.

It might be that our first chink in the tough and "crack-in" midfield brigade is starting to show the reason why we put so many reasonably similar players together.

I never understood the angst of us drafting a large number of insiders over the last four or five years, first of all because Cross and Boyd had an immediate shelf life but secondly, players get injured and suffer from form lapses, plus they also get traded.

Smith is a favourite of mine and I hope his recovery is speedy.

[Bornadog]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Clay Smith's bad luck with injury continues

Ryan Davidson July 20, 2014 4:14 PM

Clay Smith tackles Aaron Heppell during Footscray's VFL clash with the Bombers

WESTERN Bulldog Clay Smith's shocking run with injury has continued, with the club confirming the midfielder hurt the knee he had reconstructed last year in the VFL on Sunday afternoon.

The promising 21-year-old sustained the injury to his right knee during the third quarter of Footscray's 53-point win over Essendon at Whitten Oval, but the extent of the damage is yet to be determined.

Before the mishap, Smith was continuing his dominant VFL form, racking up 12 touches, five tackles and kicking two goals.

"We don't know yet, we'll find out tomorrow but it doesn't look great for him. It's a cruel game but you've got to keep life in perspective. He's got a good family, he's a tough kid and we'll look after him," Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney said after his side's loss to Essendon.


It's been a frustrating 12 months for Smith, who ruptured his ACL against the Bombers in round 16 of the 2013 AFL season.

In April, he and teammate Christian Howard contracted Salmonella poisoning, and then in his first and only senior appearance since his reconstruction, Smith injured his AC joint in the round 10 clash with Gold Coast, sidelining him for several weeks.

Smith has played 31 senior games since being taken with pick 17 in the 2011 NAB AFL Draft.

[Bornadog]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Fingers crossed

the western bulldogs are hopeful that talented youngster clay smith has avoided a second anterior cruciate ligament injury in footscray’s 53-point thrashing of essendon at whitten oval on sunday.

smith, who was close to being recalled to the senior line-up after having 34 disposals and kicking three goals in the vfl last week, was again starring before injuring his knee in the third term.
he appeared dispirited after the match, on crutches and with his knee in a brace. He will have scans on monday to determine the extent of the damage.

smith, considered one of the bulldogs' brightest prospects, initially suffered an acl injury last season.
bulldogs development coach chris maple said he was hopeful smith just copped a tweak to his knee.

smith’s injury was the only downside to footscray’s surge to second spot behind port melbourne in the vfl.
liam jones booted six goals and had 18 disposals and nine marks to put his hand up for a senior recall.
''we’re just working really hard to get his confidence back up and he showed that today,'' maple said.
''he does a lot of work with [assistant coaches] ash hansen and cam mooney and shannon grant ... And he saw some benefits today of when you get to play in a bit better weather.''

shaun higgins, out-of-contract at the end of the season with speculation that carlton is interested in him, was also among the best with 21 disposals and a goal.

it was his second consecutive game in the vfl since being dropped from the senior team.
''he won’t have got as many stats [as last week], but the way he played was better,'' maple said. "he defended well and tackled hard and really had some good, contested footy.''

brett goodes was influential around the ground with 25 touches, while veteran daniel giansiracusa was also prominent with 16 disposals and seven marks.
the bulldogs’ short injury list has also helped their rapid rise in the vfl ranks in just their first season as a standalone club.
maple said the benefits of having a standalone club in the vfl were obvious.

''lin jong has got to play senior afl footy this year and fletcher roberts and jack redpath have all played afl footy, whereas this time last year they were playing vfl seconds - i think it shows why we wanted our own side,'' he said.
but it has also been the emergence of its vfl-listed crop - recruited mainly from the western suburbs - that has helped the dogs become a force; a flag fancy despite focusing on development.

''a lot of people talk about the older boys like the lowers [nick lower] and the russells [jordan russell] ... But we’ve probably been happy with a guy like michael fogarty, he’s a spotswood kid, he’s played around eight or nine games this year and he’s really competitive,'' maple said.
''jase perkins at port colts, david iaccarino from spotswood as well, todd finco from albion, they’re just local players and they’re doing a really good job.''

read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/acl-fea...#ixzz382bezugg

[Bornadog]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

FOOTSCRAY BULLDOGS

Goal Kickers: L. Jones 6, C. Smith 2, T. Dickson 2, N. Lower , J. Russell , W. Hayes , T. Campbell , B. Goodes , S. Higgins , M. Honeychurch
Best Players: F. Roberts, L. Jones, S. Higgins, N. Lower, B. Goodes, T. Campbell

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: Round 15 - Footscray Bulldogs vs Essendon

Smith injury happened right in front of me.

Was right in front of me. Looked like he was in a lot of pain.

Was right in front of us, tried to turn Melksham and his knee just buckled. Looked horrible.

Not to make light of poor Clay's awful injury, but I wish I'd known at the time that everyone hanging over the fence around me at the time was a WOOFER!