Player Column – Haiden Schloithe Round 15

MY foot injury is coming along nicely now. I started running again on Tuesday so hopefully over the next couple of weeks I can pick it up and start training to push for selection and play again just after our next bye in Round 17.

I had been dealing with the foot hurting for two or three weeks before I spoke up to the medical staff on the Foundation Derby weekend. It was just an aching sort of pain in my foot so we got it scanned and the timing was pretty good because if I kept playing it probably would have turned into a stress fracture that needed surgery meaning I would have been out for the rest of the year.

I was in the boot for a couple of weeks to keep the pressure off it and when we got the results of the scans back during the week, Swanny and the doc Rach wanted me to stay in the boot to calm it down a little bit.

I would have loved to start running as soon as I got out of the boot but it's in a high risk location and if we didn’t do anything about it initially and treat it carefully then it could have been the end of my season which was not what I wanted especially with it looking like we are going to play finals footy.

It is frustrating to be sidelined again for the second straight year. Before last year I had never really missed too many games through injury at all. But then then last year I had the serious ankle injury in Round 3 and missed half the year and now this year the foot has just been there. I thought I better speak up about and to miss another six or so weeks is frustrating but touchwood I'll have a good run in the future.

The good thing is that I know I'm in good hands here at the club. Obviously Swanny played a lot of WAFL footy and has a lot of experience to help in that department, and Rach our doctor is fantastic. She also does a lot of work with Olympic athletes so they are both unbelievable with the work they do for the club to get everyone up and about every week.

To be honest I'm not a good watcher from the sidelines. I get caught up in the game pretty easily. Last year I was up in the box with the coaches so I couldn’t say too much, but this year I've been down on the bench helping with the moves on the board and I get caught up in the game, and I get pretty frustrated. Everyone down there has to tell me to pipe down but I'm a passionate bloke and I love the footy club, and seeing the boys win.

It's tough to hold yourself back sometimes too. Down at Peel there was a bit of a push and shove at the end of a quarter and I got caught up a little bit hobbling along in the moon boot. I just had to remember that I wasn’t playing and I had to take a few steps back to let it unfold. Lucky enough nothing serious came out of it.

The last two weeks have been great. Against Peel we lost Ash real early and then 'Smack' just after half-time, and to be two down in the wet against a pretty good side the boys played really well. Then on Saturday we played West Perth who is probably the form team of the competition and to go up to Joondalup where we have a great record with a couple of players still out, it was a great win. The young boys really stepped up and it was a fantastic performance.

It's not good to be watching from the sidelines but it is good to see the boys playing so well. We've beaten quality teams the last two weeks and we've won in different ways. It was in the wet against Peel and then we stamped our authority against West Perth with 10 goals to two after half-time so that was really pleasing. Fingers crossed we can keep that going.

This Saturday we play East Perth and obviously they've got some really good WAFL players with Paul Johnson leading the way and then you don’t know which Eagles boys will be playing, but there will be obviously a few. They are well coached by Jaymie Graham and it's going to be a different challenge. Hopefully the boys get up for it and perform well.