1 day Ago By Andrew Moir
Yarrawonga coach Steve Johnson says classy forward could not have worked harder to overcome injury, but stopped short of declaring him a certainly for Sunday's grand final against Wangaratta Rovers. or signup to continue reading Fothergill injured his hamstring against North Albury on August 17, so the decider will be 36 days. "He's done everything he possibly can, it probably looked unlikely three-four weeks ago, but he's the consummate professional, he's been going down to Melbourne getting PRP injections," Johnson offered at the grand final press conference, ahead of the clash at Lavington Sportsground.
PRP, or Platelet-Rich Plasma, is a treatment which involves injecting small amounts of one's own blood into slowly healing soft tissue injuries to speed up the healing process. "He's come on in leaps and bounds and he's put in two weeks of solid training sessions, we want to be comfortable that we pick a player that is fully fit," Johnson added. "Can he get through 100 minutes of grand final footy, which will be a high-intensity game? "He has to tick that box, we will put him through a rigorous session at some point today (Thursday) and if he pulls up well, he gets the opportunity to recover over a couple of days to prepare for Sunday.
" Although the O and M continues to increase its professionalism, Fothergill is still renowned as being one of the best, if not the best, off-field worker on his game. Meanwhile, Wangaratta Rovers will make at least one change after the pacy missed the preliminary final win over North Albury with a knee injury. "Dylan Stone will play, he trained fully last night (Wednesday), full training, no issues," coach Sam Murray offered.
"He was more a precautionary approach, we felt we had some players on our list that play a little similar to Dylan." Murray is in his second season as coach and admits telling a player he will be dropped for the decider is brutal. "They are tough conversations, but the group's really resilient, we take an approach of the thirds, reserves and us, we're all in this together," he confirmed.
"We appreciate there's going to be a tough-luck story potentially, depending on where things sit, but knowing this group, knowing this club, everyone will wrap their arms around them." Exciting youngster Will McCarthy has returned to the Hawks in finals after playing eight games with the region's junior representative outfit Murray Bushrangers. When Yarrawonga smashed Rovers by 71 points in the grand final qualifier, McCarthy was named second-best.
Yarrawong claimed last year's grand final in a thriller against Albury and will look to win successive titles for only the second time in its history. The Pigeons won in 2012-13 when ex-Carlton superstar Brendan Fevola was at his peak. Rovers have not win a premiership since 1994 and not played a grand final since 2002.
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