Pies fear the worst after a major knee injury to their hero.
Ruby Schleicher will have scans on her knee, which the Magpies believe is significant.
After suffering a catastrophic knee injury late in Sunday’s devastating loss to Sydney, Collingwood believes Ruby Schleicher may miss the rest of the season as well as the entire 2024 campaign.
Schleicher had to be carried to the bench late in the last quarter as the Magpies were defeated by the Swans by a score of 19 points, thereby ending their finals chances.
Coach Stephen Symonds said the Pies “suspect it’s a serious one” for Schleicher, who had recently recovered from an ankle injury to play in her first game of the season.
“We think there’s a serious knee injury there, so she’ll get a scan,” Symonds went on to say.
“We don’t know what it looks like right now, so fingers crossed it’s not the worst one and she’ll be fine.” But we believe it is severe.”
Symonds admitted Schleicher could miss the rest of the season if the injury keeps her out for a year.
“We hope it’s not too bad and it’s not the worst, and hopefully we can get some good news out of the scan,” he told reporters.
“The span of someone coming back, if it is the worst, takes you into the whole of next season as well.”
Schleicher was looking much better for the run in her second match of the season, gathering 11 disposals against the Swans at Henson Park.
The defender had been a presence across the field until hitting the ground heavily and quickly grabbing at her knee late in the game when the four points were already out of reach for the Pies.
“It’s just the unknown, really. Until she gets scans, we can’t really confirm anything,” Symonds said.
SWANS v MAGPIES Full match coverage and stats
“From an injury point of view, it has just been one of those years for us. We’ve had a horror run.”
The Magpies will enter the final round of the season sitting in 10th place after the Swans secured the win and percentage boost to take their place in the top eight.
Leave a Reply