As far as has been reported from the club over the years they’ve tried rest, changing his running gait, calf strengthening, sending him to Germany for platelet injections and ballet. I’d be curious what they should have tried that they didn’t? The suggestion seems to be don’t train him and then put him in a position in the forward line where he needs to accelerate very quickly. I wouldn’t have thought that was a way to prevent a calf injury, but I’m no expert.
It seems to me Freo took a punt on a supremely talented player with a dodgy calf and some off-field issues in the hopes that they could help him come good. As many people on here have pointed out, there is a conveyor belt of hard-working private school-educated footballers with working limbs that you can slot onto a list with a minimum of risk. Those players, while helpful, don’t decide premierships.
We took a swing and we missed, but I think there was merit in the attempt, and to me it looks like the club has tried everything they can to get him right, and supported him in what must have been an incredibly disappointing time for him and the club.
The worst I think that can be said is that Freo wasted (the equivalent of) pick 25 on a player with chronic injuries that it couldn’t rehabilitate.
I suppose if you were so inclined you could also allege professional negligence based on a guess about the nature of the injury and treatment methods implemented in a field in which you have no expertise, but each to their own.
