Latest news with #injurycrisis
The Australian
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Australian
AFL: Essendon high performance boss Sean Murphy sacked
The Essendon injury crisis has resulted in the club parting ways with the head of high performance five weeks before the end of a disastrous season. Sean Murphy was out of contract at the end of the season and days after Bombers coach Brad Scott said the club would 'reallocate resources' to player health, the man responsible for fitness has been moved on. It comes just hours after Essendon fielded a 13th debutant for 2025 in a 48-point loss to GWS on Thursday night. They were without 16 players for the clash after Nate Caddy, Ben Hobbs, Will Setterfield and Nic Martin joined a long list of sidelined players this week. But after 'discussions between Murphy and the club', it was agreed the fitness boss would not continue beyond this year. 'We want to thank Sean for his commitment to this role over the past six seasons at the Essendon Football Club,' Essendon football boss Daniel McPherson said. Will Setterfield and Nic Martin are on the lengthy Essendon injury list. Picture:'These jobs are all-encompassing and on behalf of the Essendon Football Club, I want to thank Sean for the professionalism and integrity that he has carried himself with, particularly throughout what has been a really challenging season in 2025. 'Our high performance and medical team is critical to the success of our football program, and we're committed to undertaking all necessary work required to help us improve in this area. This decision enables us to take a fresh approach and reshape the team as we prepare for a crucial off-season ahead of the 2026 AFL campaign.' Murphy joined the Bombers ahead of the 2020 season and has been in charge for the past six seasons. Before losing to GWS, Scott said change was needed. 'I do have the utmost confidence in the people who are looking at our program, (but) there's no doubt we will relocate resources to that space,' he said. 'We know better than anyone this year how important it is to get your players out fit and available.'
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Essendon parts ways with club's head of high performance after injury-riddled season
The Essendon injury crisis has resulted in the club parting ways with the head of high performance five weeks before the end of a disastrous season. Sean Murphy was out of contract at the end of the season and days after Bombers coach Brad Scott said the club would 'reallocate resources' to player health, the man responsible for fitness has been moved on. It comes just hours after Essendon fielded a 13th debutant for 2025 in a 49-point loss to GWS on Thursday night. They were without 16 players for the clash after Nate Caddy, Ben Hobbs, Will Setterfield and Nic Martin joined a long list of sidelined players this week. But after 'discussions between Murphy and the club', it was agreed the fitness boss would not continue beyond this year. 'We want to thank Sean for his commitment to this role over the past six seasons at the Essendon Football Club,' Essendon football boss Daniel McPherson said. 'These jobs are all-encompassing and on behalf of the Essendon Football Club, I want to thank Sean for the professionalism and integrity that he has carried himself with, particularly throughout what has been a really challenging season in 2025. 'Our high performance and medical team is critical to the success of our football program, and we're committed to undertaking all necessary work required to help us improve in this area. This decision enables us to take a fresh approach and reshape the team as we prepare for a crucial off-season ahead of the 2026 AFL campaign.' Murphy joined the Bombers ahead of the 2020 season and has been in charge for the past six seasons. Before losing to GWS, Scott said change was needed. 'I do have the utmost confidence in the people who are looking at our program, (but) there's no doubt we will relocate resources to that space,' he said. 'We know better than anyone this year how important it is to get your players out fit and available.'
New York Times
08-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Tottenham overhaul medical team for second summer running, two key staff depart
Tottenham Hotspur have overhauled their medical department for the second consecutive summer following last season's injury crisis, with key figures Adam Brett and Nick Davies having left the club. Brett was the club's director of performance services – responsible for overseeing sports science, medical, nutrition and psychology – while Davies was head of sports science. Advertisement Both have now departed, with Davies understood to be moving to another club, and Spurs will put in a process to replace them in due course. Nick Stubbings (pictured with Thomas Frank above) has joined Spurs from Brentford as medical lead, one of at least five members of backroom staff to have followed new head coach Frank from west London. Spurs suffered from a crippling injury pile-up during the 2024-25 season under Frank's predecessor Ange Postecoglou, who had to cope for long periods without key players including Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario. They lost 22 games in the top-flight as injuries took their toll, but won the Europa League after beating Manchester United in the final. A first trophy in 17 years was not enough, though, to save Postecoglou from the sack. Brett and Davies were only appointed by Spurs last summer, with the former replacing long-standing head of medicine and sports science Geoff Scott, who was axed in an overhaul conducted by the club's former chief football officer, Scott Munn. Munn is currently on gardening leave after being dismissed. Brett began his career in rugby union and joined Brighton as their head physiotherapist before he rose to become head of medicine and performance. Brett left Brighton in August 2023 and moved to Spurs the following summer. Davies previously worked for West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion and Wales men's national team. Tom Perryman, who has joined Spurs as a strength and conditioning coach, is another new addition to the sports science staff from Brentford. Spurs announced last month that Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam and Joe Newton had all followed Frank from the Gtech Community Stadium. Analysis by Tottenham reporter Jay Harris Tottenham's medical department has undergone a dizzying amount of change over the last two years. It all started when Scott Munn was appointed chief football officer in April 2023 and conducted a thorough review of their football operations. He overhauled lots of departments, including the medical and scouting teams. Advertisement In the summer of 2024, Geoff Scott left his position as head of medicine and sports science. Scott had spent 20 years with the north London side and The Athletic reported in January that he left after clashing with then-head coach Ange Postecoglou. Spurs insisted Scott's departure did not involve Postecoglou and was a result of the review and restructure of the department. Brett was appointed following Scott's departure and reported directly to Munn. Postecoglou's Spurs struggled to balance the demands of competing in the Premier League and the Europa League last season. One of the biggest issues they faced was players suffering setbacks when they returned from injury. For example, Cristian Romero injured his quad in the opening 10 minutes of December's defeat to Chelsea on his first appearance after recovering from a toe problem. In the same game, fellow centre-half Micky van de Ven suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury. The centre-halves did not return to regular action until March. 'That's been our major problem this year — guys who are coming back from injury rather than us losing players as such,' Postecoglou said on December 27 before Spurs played Wolves. 'Knock on wood but the core group of players who are training and playing games have no issues. So we're looking at those things and why they're happening. 'It's certainly happened too often this year where guys have come back and they're the ones who are missing. I think just about all of them, apart from Vicario, are recurrences of an injury. Even with Romero, it was a different injury, but it's still a guy coming back, so it's something we're looking at.' There has been more change this summer as chairman Daniel Levy tries to avoid a repeat of last season's disastrous league form. Thomas Frank has replaced Postecoglou as head coach and Vinai Venkatesham has been appointed as the new chief executive officer. Long-serving executive Donna-Maria Cullen has stepped down, Munn has been sacked and now Brett and Davies have left too. Advertisement Frank has brought five members of his backroom staff at Brentford with him including Nick Stubbings, Tom Perryman and Chris Haslam. Stubbings was Brentford's head physio and he is the medical lead at Spurs, while Perryman is a strength and conditioning coach. Haslam's official title is head of performance and first team assistant coach. (Top photo of Nick Stubbings and Thomas Frank:)
News.com.au
08-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘Losing faith': Senior players rumour swirls as Bombers reach crisis point
Essendon's injury crisis has hit new heights as the club grapples with several stars on the sidelines. And a report claims senior players at the Bombers are 'losing faith' in the club's high performance team, to the extent that players could be poached by rival clubs. Brad Scott's side has been badly affected by a mounting injury toll in 2025 including Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and Mason Redman suffering fresh soft tissue setbacks at a training session over the club's mid-season bye. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Meanwhile Zach Reid re-injured his hamstring last week and is set for season-ending surgery and Caldwell also requires a procedure for a syndesmosis issue that puts the rest of the gun midfielder's campaign in doubt. It comes as the likes of Ben McKay, Sam Draper, Jordan Ridley, Nick Bryan, Harrison Jones, Matt Guelfi, Nik Cox and Xavier Duursma have endured long-term injuries throughout this season. Seven's Mitch Cleary revealed on Agenda Setters on Monday night 'a number of players have led concerns' off the back of the Bombers' Saturday training session a fortnight ago when Parish, Langford and Redman got hurt. Cleary said the grim situation has caused frustration to the point that it could lead to players leaving the club. 'It's my understanding that if a club was to come for a player like Kyle Langford, who has two years left on a lucrative contract at the age of 28, he would look twice at an offer from a rival club, given the frustration that has been stemming off the back of this and the repeat soft tissue injuries they've picked up,' Cleary reported. 'This is not a recent thing. This has been going for some time, but it really has ramped up since that Saturday session two weeks ago.' It comes as Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd poured more fuel on burning rumours surrounding the future of captain Zach Merrett. Despite being contracted at Essendon until the end of the 2027 season, Merrett has been linked with trades in recent months. Lloyd told Nine's Footy Classified on Monday night: 'No one would begrudge him (leaving). 'Zach will win his sixth best and fairest this year and he will have achieved absolutely everything you can at Essendon Football Club, bar playing in a winning final. 'That's what you play footy for … once your days are over all you remember is those big finals you played in, nothing else. That's what he'll never, ever have that memory of.' He said Essendon would only consider potential trades if Merrett told officials he didn't want to remain with the club. It comes as there could be changes coming to the club's high performance team as chief executive Craig Vozzo prepares to hand in findings from a deep dive into its injury woes. Cleary added that there's been 'conjecture' around the nature of the club's training session during its bye. 'There's been conjecture on whether this session was planned or not. I've spoken to the club tonight and they're adamant that this was always in the diary for them to come back from the bye on Friday, have a light session, then train fully on Saturday,' he said. 'But the rehab guys have been at the club all week. They didn't have a bye week as such. So the club is standing by the fact this has been in the diary for some time. But there has been conjecture from some parts around how hard and how much of this was planned.' Appearing on Fox Footy's AFL 360 on Monday night, Essendon coach Brad Scott said the silver lining of the injuries was that the club could expose more talent that wouldn't have necessarily otherwise gotten a chance. 'It's like everything in life, you've got a choice how you respond to whatever situation you're in. You can mope and say: 'Poor us, poor me and my job is too hard'. Or you can get on with the job and look at the positives,' Scott said. 'The positives for us are Luamon Lual, Angus Clarke and Zak Johnston come in. All the players who have had opportunity wouldn't have had that opportunity without these injuries. 'We genuinely think we've found some players who are going to improve our team short, medium and long term. 'The aim is to keep putting a team on the park every weekend capable of getting the job done and we haven't shied away from that. There are no excuses for performances on the weekend for who's not there. 'We're still fielding 23 fit players.'
News.com.au
02-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott on Zach Reid, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and injury opportunity
The narrative reads a little differently to Essendon coach Brad Scott. The Bombers' wretched run of injuries has deepened over the past fortnight, with Mason Redman, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and Zach Reid all pulling up sore from training. Setbacks to Parish, Langford and Redman all occurred during the Bombers' bye week while Reid was injured at training on Wednesday. Return dates for Parish (calf) and Langford (quad) are undetermined, while Redman (hamstring) will miss at least a week. Reid was sent for scans on a hamstring issue after edging closer to a return from previous injury. Essendon has 11 unavailable for Gold Coast this weekend – nine of them serving long-term stints on the sidelines. But Scott — prior to training on Wednesday — refused to view it as a 'crisis' and said he shared the same view of the fringe players who are getting premature chances at senior level. 'That's the thing about the headlines, 'injury crisis' and all these things – I guarantee you it's not a crisis to those players who are on the fringe of selection,' he said. 'It's an opportunity to put their name up in lights and get their opportunity they've been working so hard for. 'That's the silver lining for us. It's clearly not ideal, we'd love to have better availability, but we've had players emerge who wouldn't have had their opportunity. 'Even if we did make seven changes this week, Angus Clarke wasn't going out regardless. I couldn't have said that seven weeks ago.' Parish has played just three matches this year after missing the start of the season with the same calf issue. Langford, six games, has also been troubled by a quad issue in the past. Scott admits there is a level of concern for the pair, as their injuries are a repeat of previous setbacks – but he hasn't put a line through their respective seasons. 'I've heard some people say, 'That's it for the season', that's not our attitude. We're going to rehab them as best we can and get them back playing as soon as possible,' he said. 'It leaves (Parish) in rehab again trying to get back before the end of the season. He's a really important part of our team and he come back in after a long lay-off and looked pretty sharp. 'It's a loss to us but we've got to keep pushing ahead and (Parish), with our full support, got to try get to the bottom of why he's had another recurrence. 'It's always a concern when you have a recurrence, injuries are an unfortunate part of our game. You try to minimise them as much you can, but when you have a recurrence to an existing injury it is a concern. 'We've got to deal with it, I understand the interest in it … but my focus is purely on the 23 we pick to go and get the job done on Saturday.'
