Essendon confirm Fletcher's fracture - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Essendon confirm Fletcher's fracture

By Laine Clark 03/05/2009 03:58:55 PM Comments (0)

It seems Essendon veteran Dustin Fletcher will have plenty of time to reflect on his landmark 300th AFL game.

The legendary fullback not only had his milestone match soured by a 43-point loss to a resurgent Brisbane Lions on Saturday night, he could be sidelined for up to two months with a leg fracture.

An Essendon spokesman said x-rays had confirmed the defender suffered a broken left fibula.

He said more scans on Monday would determine just how long Fletcher would be sidelined.

The Bombers spokesman said the club hoped Fletcher had only suffered a hairline fracture but had not ruled out a "worst case scenario" of eight weeks on the sidelines.

Fletcher went down with what was initially thought to be an ankle complaint in the third term at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Fletcher's injury will cause coach Matthew Knights plenty of headaches but the Bombers mentor denied that his side had suffered an Anzac Day hangover at the Gabba.

Essendon arrived in Brisbane still buzzing from their come-from-behind victory over Collingwood.

"Anzac Day was fantastic to have a great victory ... but I don't think it was a let-down," Knights said of their Gabba capitulation.

"I think that's underselling the Brisbane Lions.

"They beat us in all areas. Their contested ball was terrific, their tackling was great.

"They were always half-a-step in front of us and converted well inside 50.

"They were very crisp and their finishing was brilliant.

"Brisbane were earmarked to be a potential top-eight team at the start of the year so if you don't come with the right attitude you'll get beaten.

"Good teams are able to string wins together and play consistent football and we've done nothing yet."

The Bombers may have been flying high ahead of the Lions clash but they came up against a Brisbane side hell bent on bouncing back from a last round 93-point shocker at Geelong.

"We're trying to establish ourselves," Knights said of Essendon which moved to a 3-3 record following the defeat.

"We started with a new program 12 months ago and, yes, we've had some good wins but it's a strong competition.

"We didn't capitalise on any of our times where we dominated the game (against Brisbane) and you just have to in the modern game because it will come back to bite you."

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