Two horrific injuries at AAMI Park could have major repercussions for the run-in to the A-League finals.
Incidents involving Adelaide United’s Craig Goodwin and Storm Roux, the Central Coast defender, had the crowd wincing and coaches fearful for their footballing futures.
On Friday night, Goodwin was left heavily concussed and with a cricket ball-sized bump on his forehead after crashing into the knee of Melbourne Victory defender Daniel Georgievski.
The winger was rampaging through Victory’s defence when Rashid Mahazi brought Goodwin down.
Despite Goodwin falling to ground level, Georgievski had already committed to the tackle and lunged in feet-first and dangerously on the 24-year-old.
Intent could be key on whether the Match Review Panel chooses to penalise Georgievski, leaving open the possibility of a lengthy ban.
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich said he would exonerate the Victory man despite the “horrendous injury”.
“I always look for the good in people,” he told Fox Sports.
“He started sliding in … I don’t think he could have pulled out.
“I don’t think he meant to hit him in the head, I think it was a pure accident.”
Victory – who lost to the Reds 1-0 – can ill afford any player unavailability as they look to revive their stuttering campaign.
Adelaide said the winger would report to training on Monday ahead of Saturday’s match with Brisbane Roar and will be assessed.
Sunday’s fixture saw another injury shocker with Storm Roux collapsing in agony after turning sharply on the AAMI Park turf in an attempt to block Ben Garuccio’s shot.
The score was 1-1 at the time and Central Coast manager Tony Walmsley said the incident, which saw Roux administered with pain relief on the pitch before being stretchered off, was key to Melbourne City roaring to a 4-1 win..
“He’s not in a good way … it’s lower leg and possibly shoulder as well,” he said.
“It doesn’t look good. It’s had an impact on some of our guys after the stoppage in play.”
AZ_RBB
Guest
Did he get a yellow on the night? Usually proving that the referee on the night made an error is challenging.
Franko
Guest
Amazing! It looked like a minimum 3 game suspension to me. Musky would be proud.
AZ_RBB
Guest
MVFC's Daniel Georgievski will not face any sanctions for his tackle on Craig Goodwin last Friday night. Craig Goodwin is set to undergo concussion tests on Thursday to see if he is fit to play Brisbane this weekend.
Paul
Guest
Needs to get 3 matches. Far worse than La Rocca. Consistency FFA. I'm dreaming!
Paul
Guest
Agree minimum 3 matches
Paul
Guest
Agree minimum 3 matches. Victory then down to 1 regular starting fullback against Sydney FC with Geria suspended for accumulated yellows. the so called Big Blue will be a whimper and headed for a 0-0 draw after the ACL games midweek for both teams. Arnold returning to the his country of failure, Japan, will be interesting.
Paul
Guest
Agree. Minimum 3 matches. Watching on TV it looked like intent to me. Muscat would be down to 1 starting fullback in Galloway with Geria suspended due to accumulated yellows for the next A-league match. Nigro would get another go and would probably give Melb Victory some missing grunt against Sydney FC. This match so often called the Big Blue will be a little whimper after the ACL matches with Sydney travelling to Arnies nightmare country Japan and then onto a comparatively short flight to Melbourne. Has 0-0 draw written all over it except for multiple yellows to handed with an obligatory send off, unless Victory has less stress due to no travel this week.
Paul
Guest
I agree. He should get 3 or more. matches as that was worse than La Rocca on Simon. Muscat would then be without 2 fullbacks in Geria (accumulated yellows) and Georgievski for the game against Sydney FC. He would have to bring Nigro back and might even give them a spark. Not sure how the supposed Big Blue will look after both have ACL games midweek. Arnold should be having nightmares going back to Japan after his last effort there. I would if Jurman will cited for violent conduct on Liam Reddy?
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
Bit of a warzone out there over the weekend, Covic suffered a pretty horrible dislocation to his finger as well. Poor Storm Roux that was horrible he looked in real agony.
AZ_RBB
Guest
One of the best rounds of ALeague in recent memory. Every single match had plenty of drama and/or goals. Healthy crowd at each fixture as well. Expect another exciting weekend coming up. But these two injuries really soured the weekend. Hopefully Goodwin's concussion is taken seriously. Football can no longer turn a blind eye to head injuries. Poor Roux might not play football again in 2016. But this is character building stuff for a player at his age.
Franko
Guest
Georgievski has got to go. He commits to the challenge after he has seen that Goodwin is going down. It wasn't his only ill tempered moment for the night (hey, it's a rivalry) he meant to take out Goodwin, maybe not as bad as he did, but the intent is there. Take a look where the ball is when contact is made http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/6a7db710fba6110dbf6f393f44d5041a?width=700
Midfielder
Guest
Storms injury looked like it could be 12 months.