SOUTH Warrnambool playing coach Leah Kermeen is sidelined from the netball court indefinitely on the eve of the club's first senior finals appearance in more than 15 years.
The shooter hit the asphalt early in the last quarter of the Roosters' heavy loss to Warrnambool at Reid Oval on Saturday, injuring her ankle.
She can't recall the incident clearly but believed she was trying to dodge around Blues defender Emma O'Keeffe before rolling her ankle and falling to the ground.
"Having many ankle injuries before, this one really hurt and I knew that it wasn't just a niggle," she said.
"Being so close to finals, in the back of my mind I was hoping it wasn't season-ending."
Kermeen had an X-ray after the match and was told she had a fractured fibula, subsequently putting her in plaster.
"Upon a second opinion on Sunday from umpire and doctor Qalo Sukabula, he didn't seem to think this was the case and advised to take the cast off and treat it as if it was a bad sprain," she said.
"The past three days I've been dipping it in the ocean and putting my foot in ice buckets in an attempt to reduce the swelling and bring out the bruising.
"I saw my physio (on Tuesday) and he'll continue to treat it to try and get it right for the finals.
"It's improving each day but I have to wait and see what eventuates in the next few weeks.
"I can walk on it now but playing a game is a totally different kettle of fish."
The coach was disheartened that she could be taking charge from the sidelines come finals but wasn't completely ruling herself out of any action post round 18.
"Given South's A grade netball team hasn't made finals for over 15 years, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to line up in our first final and help guide the team to success," she said.
"It's really made me more hungry for finals and to know that it could have all been over makes me individually want to play more."
She said the fourth-ranked Roosters would continue to call on their talented 17 and under players in her absence.
"Marli Boyd will potentially line up in goals this week," she said.
"Obviously I'll be disappointed not to finish the season off but this close to the end of the season, finals are far more important than a home-and-away round where the result won't change our position on the ladder."
The coach hoped her side would use this week's game against ladder-leader Camperdown to build momentum ahead of the finals.
"We all know we can produce better netball than what we displayed last week and with less than two weeks before our final, we would like to find our form and start to prepare for that," Kermeen said.
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