Adelaide Crows have suffered a major setback with captain Nathan van Berlo rupturing his Achilles Tendon at training on Monday which will likely see him out of action for up to three months.
Adelaide captain Nathan van Berlo won Adelaide's first time-trial of the new year but will now miss three months with an Achilles injury. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Limited
ADELAIDE will this week review its fitness equipment and safety practices but the club believes skipper Nathan van Berlo's season threatening achilles tendon injury was the result of a freak accident.
Van Berlo will be out of football until at least August after rupturing his achilles on Monday when he was struck by a weighted training sled which cut through his heel and tendon, at Max Basheer Reserve.
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A spokesperson for the club said, with no vision, it was difficult to determine how the incident occurred and the club's football department would conduct an internal review.
The review, to include high performance manager Nick Poulos and coach Brenton Sanderson, will centre around the training sleds, but the club is confident there is no safety issue.
Widely used across the AFL and part of the Crow's program for years, the sleds are loaded with weights and strapped to the athlete.
The athlete then pulls the sled while sprinting as a form of sprint training.
The Crows could not confirm whether van Berlo was struck by a sled he was pulling, or a sled pulled by another player.
Club doctor Andrew Potter said it was initially suspected 182-game veteran van Berlo had suffered a cut to the heel.
Former Crow Phil Davis dragging a sled with weights, similar to the one that injured captain Nathan van Berlo. Source: News Limited
The club took him to hospital as a precaution where scans revealed the injury was far worse.
"We're not entirely sure exactly what happened and the club is still looking into that, but suffice to say it was during a warm up,'' Dr Potter said.
"They were doing some speed work and some strength work.
"One of the things that is used in many sports and widely across the AFL is they use those sleds that they pull, which are weighted.
"For some reason, Nathan was struck on the back of the heel by one of those sleds.
"Now the circumstance of that we're not sure of. We're still looking into that but that's how it happened."
Leading SA athletics coach Steve Butler said he regularly used sleds in training with his athletes and rated the risk of being struck as low. But he said precaution was required.
Butler successfully used sleds when training Olympic medallist Mark Ormorod for the 2004 Games in Athens and currently uses them with Paralympian Gabriel Cole.
"For elite level training they are a necessary part and the benefits outweigh the risk,'' said Butler, also West Adelaide Football Club fitness coach.
"I'm not sure what happened (with van Berlo) but there is a slight risk and you have to be careful.
"If the athlete does not pull up properly from a sprint, for example, the sled could slide into the back of him if (the sled) is not heavily weighted."
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