Knee injury ends Kerr's season at Eagles - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Knee injury ends Kerr's season at Eagles

By Justin Chadwick 04/08/2008 06:41:16 PM Comments (0)

Star West Coast onballer Daniel Kerr has played his last game of the AFL season after succumbing to a knee injury.

Kerr will undergo surgery this week after damaging the cartilage behind his right knee cap, joining Brett Jones (knee), Adam Hunter (knee/shoulder), Beau Waters (elbow), Matt Rosa (ankle), Chris Masten (groin), Mitch Brown (knee) and Shannon Hurn (leg) as others to have suffered season-ending injuries.

Season 2008 has been one worth forgetting for Kerr, who has been constantly forced to quash speculation he is heading to Melbourne at year's end despite being contracted to the Eagles until the end of 2009.

In the absence of star midfielders Ben Cousins and Chris Judd, Kerr has copped more attention than ever before from opposition taggers, and it has clearly affected the 2007 All-Australian.

Kerr has been suspended for a total of six weeks this season, restricting the 25-year-old to just 11 appearances this year - the lowest season tally of his eight-year career.

Meanwhile, West Coast captain Darren Glass will attempt to see out the season to ensure the club's young defence doesn't get obliterated in the final four rounds.

Glass, an All-Australian defender in the past two seasons, has been battered from pillar to post this season but has bravely battled on as teammates have fallen like ten-pins around him.

The first-year captain again looked proppy on the weekend in the Eagles' 33-point western derby loss to Fremantle, leaving coach John Worsfold to admit Glass would have to be nursed through the final four games of the season.

"At this stage he'll play the season out, unless he believes he can't contribute," Worsfold said.

"It's going to mean that at times our young defenders are going to take up some big jobs to help him out.

"He is still our best defender and he is very keen as the leader to support the team through a tough year, and he's fit enough to do it at the moment."

Forward Ashley Hansen praised Glass for his commitment to the team's cause.

"He's obviously carrying an injury and been sore but I think that's the courageous defender that he is," Hansen said.

"He's probably been under pressure moreso this year than ever (before) with the amount of inside 50s the opposition sides have been having because we haven't been winning games of footy.

"I think when you're captain you want to lead the team and be out there as much as you can because your leadership is so valuable on-field especially when we've got so many young defenders.

"I think his leadership can't be questioned."

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