Monday, 19 September 2011

Defiant Lockyer draws criticism over plan to play through injury





BRONCOS captain Darren Lockyer is set to defy the advice of his own doctors by playing in Friday night's grand final qualifier against Manly.



Lockyer, who had surgery on Sunday to have three plates inserted in the left side of his face, yesterday revealed he had been warned against attempting to play just six days after suffering a depressed fracture of his cheekbone in Saturday night's win over the Dragons.



''The doctors have advised me not to play but the decision is entirely up to me and I am leaning towards playing, so I will make that decision in the next few days,'' Lockyer said.

The specialist who operated on Lockyer, Dr John Arvier, yesterday declined to comment but another leading maxillofacial surgeon, Dr Caroline Acton, criticised Lockyer for going against the advice of his doctor.



''I am the president of Kidsafe Queensland, which is an organisation with the aim of keeping children out of hospital, so I am very concerned about a role model not going along with doctor's advice not to play,'' Dr Acton said. '




'The Broncos actually support us at Kidsafe, they have actually been at our house a couple of weeks ago to promote injury prevention. But he is willing to take the risk of refracturing his face and risking blindness.''



While the three titanium plates have strengthened the area where Lockyer suffered the fractures, Dr Acton said his cheek could cave in if he was hit there again on Friday night.



''The strength of the bone at the moment is only as strong as the plate and the screws so it is not as strong as it was in its unbroken state,'' she said. ''It is not very strong and if it was hit again with any reasonable force it would go back in again.''



Asked about the risk to his eyesight, Dr Acton said: ''The risk with breaking a cheekbone and repairing a cheekbone is blindness. It doesn't happen very often but when it does happen it is pretty devastating.''



However, Lockyer said he was aware of the risks and wanted to finish his career on his own terms.



''The way I approach that is every time we take the field I could lose my eyesight,'' he told Brisbane radio. ''I have played over 350 games and I have been hit in the cheekbone, where I have had a problem twice.



''I appreciate everyone's concern and I know that the doctors and the medical people are going to put it in a language that sounds dangerous but every time we take the field you run the risk of being injured.''



Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin said that after a record 355 premiership matches, 36 Origins and 55 Tests, Lockyer had the right to make his own call. Griffin hit back at criticism from NRL chief medical officer Ron Muratore over the club's decision to leave it to their captain to decide.


''No one was worried about a duty of care when they were asking [the players] to back up 24 hours after a Test match,'' Griffin said.



''The decisions we make about our players - for everyone at the club - the player's interest always comes first. That's why we're a tight club.


We're doing what we're doing on the football field because everyone's on the same page.


I don't understand how someone, especially someone a thousand miles away, can try and be critical of us.''



Roosters doctor John Orchard said Lockyer was receiving the best advice from Arvier, who performed a similar operation on Shannon Hegarty before the 2002 finals series.



''He is very professional, an excellent surgeon and very experienced,'' Orchard said. ''He will know how close the fractures are to the eye-socket, which is the big question in terms of safety, and I am sure he will give very, very good advice for Darren in terms of whether it is safe for him to go out there.''




Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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