The worst was understandably feared once Western Bulldogs star forward Bonnie Toogood hurt her knee in Saturday’s AFLW loss to West Coast, but to her relief and that of coach Nathan Burke, she hasn’t joined the growing casualty list.
Collingwood’s Ash Brazill became the 10th player on Friday night to rupture an ACL either in preparation for or during this AFLW season so it’s understandable the worst was feared when Toogood came up hobbling on Saturday at Perth’s Leederville Oval.
The key forward had started well too taking two strong, contested marks in the opening term. But she hurt her knee on the second of those and took no further part in the match with the Bulldogs eventually losing by four points to the previously winless Eagles to slip to 1-3.
There was a sigh of relief post-match, though, when Burke was able to allay fears of Toogood having done any serious damage to her knee.
“We’re not looking ACL or anything, it was more of a knock in the knee. The doctors are pretty sure it’s nothing too serious which is good news,” Burke said.
“It’s a relief to me obviously but more so she doesn’t have to worry about that. But you just feel sorry for every player who goes through a serious injury and let’s hope we get through without any more.”
There’s no doubting how much the Bulldogs missed the 22-year-old once she went off. The change in structure it caused might have been critical in the final result.
“She was looking good and she’s been building every week. Her effort is outstanding and if she doesn’t mark it, she tackles, pressures and does everything. It looked like she was in for one where she was going to hit the scoreboard, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be,” Burke said.
“It did change a lot because of the size and length of the ground, we had a special plan where to play Bonnie and with a taller player behind her. But that’s football.”
Burke once again couldn’t question the endeavour of the Bulldogs against the Eagles, but at times their will to want to do too much comes at the expense of sticking the game plan.
That’s something he wants to see an improvement in starting Saturday night against Carlton at Ikon Park.
“We just lost some of our shape and structure a little bit. Once we got under the pump a little bit, we got a bit frantic. We all want to save the day and sometimes we can lose where we want to be,” Burke said.
“I don’t blame the girls for that because they just want to give more and more effort, but sometimes that effort takes us away from some of our plans. We just have to have a bit more composure in those situations.”
