TRIPLE Koroit premiership player Chris McLaren is preparing to make a bold bid to prove his fitness tomorrow night for Saturday’s grand final showdown with Warrnambool.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The key defender suffered a quad strain in the final quarter of the Saints’ qualifying final win against North Warrnambool Eagles, forcing him to miss his side’s past two matches.
But he made a surprise appearance at training last Thursday and last night did some running, touch work and short kicking.
“I’m confident I will be right to play,” McLaren said yesterday.
“I have to make sure I train Thursday night.
“I did last Thursday. I did over half the session, but I have to make sure I can get through a game of footy.”
The 258-game veteran said he was conscious of putting the team before himself.
“It’s one of those things. If you do hurt it, can you get through a game?
“It will be sore but there is no next week so you can push through with the pain in the leg.
“It’s not about me. If I’m right to play, I will play. If I’m not, we will play someone who is.
“I would hate to go out there and couldn’t contribute at all.”
He ruled out cortisone injections because of the nature of the injury in his dominant right kicking leg.
McLaren said he had spent countless hours trying to recover in time.
By Saturday, he would have been sidelined for 21 days.
“I haven’t got a really bad quad tear. It’s a grade one tear or strain. Generally it would be three to four weeks. I’m probably not far away.
“I have spent plenty of hours at the beach at Killarney, the breakwater or wherever I’m close to. I have a swimming pool at home and I’ve stood in the swimming pool a lot.”
He has seen club physio John Cooney several times, as well as undergoing massage and myotherapy treatment.
“Anyone who’s prepared to try something,” he said.
“I was never going to sit back and hope for the best.”
McLaren, who tore his left quad several years ago, said he knew he was in trouble when the injury in his right leg happened while kicking in the qualifying final.
“Straight away you go ‘that’s going to cost me a week or two’.
“You train all year and all pre-season and I’ve had a bit of a run this year with injuries but you only do it to play finals and I was thinking ‘now I won’t be playing’.
“You play footy because you love the place and your mates but you love playing finals too. That was the disappointment at the time.”
McLaren said the Saints were upbeat after last Saturday’s 25-point preliminary final victory against North Warrnambool Eagles.
He said his side was keen to do better than the 12-goal second semi-final loss to Warrnambool.
“I don’t think we are that far behind them. We are not going into the game thinking we are going to come second. We think we can, no doubt about that but we know it won’t be an easy day. They have clearly been the best side all year.”
Opponent Warrnambool is upbeat midfielder Darcy Graham could yet prove his fitness, having suffered a hamstring injury that forced him out of the second semi-final.
He trained last night, having completed Saturday morning’s session. Like McLaren, he will have to prove his fitness tomorrow night.