CTV: Chris Dawes on the injury, surgery and his recovery plans
Collingwood premiership forward Chris Dawes knew he was in trouble midway through the first quarter during Sunday’s win over Hawthorn when he saw his knuckle compressed. The knuckle on Dawes’ right index finger came into contact with his opponent Max Bailey’s elbow, forcing the Magpie from the ground.
The 23-year-old underwent surgery on Monday afternoon and is expected to miss the next four to six weeks.
Recovering at his Brighton home, Dawes spoke to CTV about the incident.
“In the first quarter a bloke was hanging onto me as I was trying to run back towards our goals. I was trying to hit his arm away and unfortunately made contact right on the point of his elbow with my knuckle.
“I looked down and the knuckle had depressed in and I thought, 'That can’t be good'. They taped me up and I tried for another three quarters but I couldn’t do much out there.”
Dawes bravely played on with his injured dominant hand collecting four disposals, three tackles and one mark before he donned the red vest and made way for Luke Rounds’ debut.
“It was pretty painful but it wasn’t as bad as it started to feel that night because I had some adrenaline running through me.
“The important thing was I stayed out there for long enough because it’s crucial for our structure to have a tall player playing that role. I was able to at least compete even though I couldn’t hang on to my marks.”
Playing the fourth most minutes in the side this season, the young Magpie will use the forced break as a time to rest his legs to ready himself for the final leg of the season.
Dawes said that the surgery has gone well and that he was looking forward to returning to the field as soon as possible.
“It’s a four to six week healing period and I am going to keep it as close to that four as I can.
“But that said I won’t rush it and I will make sure I get the hand 100 per cent right before I come back in and hopefully get a bit of a lead in preparation for finals.
“It will also give me a chance to get on top of those niggling lower leg injuries I have that most players are carrying at this time of the year.”
Collingwoodfc.com.au entertained questions from supporters via Twitter using the hashtag #askdawesy. Nick Jaworski was selected with his question below.
Who do you think should serve as your replacement - @ nicksta4
“It will be interesting to see what the coaches do. It will depend a lot on who the opposition is.
“It could be something like bringing Cam Wood in playing as a tall. He and Jolly can go in the ruck and then Leigh Brown can play as a permanent forward.
“Or it could be that they bring in a Brent Macaffer-type player who is a real mismatch because he can play tall and small.
“They could just go with another small player because Travis is in such good form.
“They will definitely mix it up and try a few different things.”
