This week will be the second one in a row that Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien will miss due to a raft of personal issues, and it seems from the outside that he’s struggling with them.
Playing football needs to take a back seat.
There are plans at this stage for him to return for the Round 17 clash next week, but why not give him a spell for a longer period? I am not convinced O’Brien missing just one more match, this week against Adelaide will benefit him and the club for the rest of the season, and most importantly O’Brien in the long term.
It looks like he may have resolved his differences with coach Nathan Buckley after the two had a verbal altercation last week.
That saw Harry storm away from a training session and seek a break up in Queensland, and even when he returned on Tuesday he was still agitated, but the club remain confident everything was back on track.
They also say he has an ankle injury, which is a major reason why he is also not playing at the moment.
With the finals just around the corner and O’Brien being so experienced and crucial to their line-up it would be a good idea if he remained on the sidelines until his ankle has recovered properly.
It’s impossible for any of us to imagine what Harry is going through presently as he battles a bout of depression and deals with being a witness to a fatal car accident in Brazil last year, when he was there on Holidays during Christmas.
It has obviously all got to him and he verbally lashed out at coach Nathan Buckley after the Collingwood players called teammate, Paul Seedsman Leso and Buckley asked O’Brien if he was alright with that.
It’s not a good look that the coach and a senior player have a verbal spat on the back of a terrible loss, but there was also some unfair criticism of O’Brien from certain sections of the media that he put himself before the team.
I don’t think that’s the case. There’s no doubt O’Brien has some strong views, which are vastly different to the majority of players in the competition and he hasn’t been afraid to express them.
He was very vocal in his criticism of Collingwood President, Eddie Maguire when he embarassed himself with his attempted joke linking King Kong and Sydney star Adam Goodes.
He also hasn’t been afraid to air his views on many off-field issues and has always impressed with his eloquence and somewhat left-of-centre thought processes.
He is a breath of fresh air and we need more players like him, but it’s also a team sport and every player has to be on the same page to acheive the ultimate success.
O’Brien’s on-field displays, when you consider the off-field and personal matters he’s been coping with, have been solid, but it would be a tall order for him to return so soon and play well.
Nathan Buckley has handled a crisis at his famous team well as usual, with superb composure ensuring this issue hasn’t got as badly out of hand as it threatened to. Maybe the club could take the attitude that if O’Brien is fit to play then being on the field is the best way to forget about these concerns engulfing him, but I think the Magpies need to tread carefully.
Harry has been through plenty in recent times. Let the wounds heal gradually.
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