THE past month has been like a bad dream for Moyhu coach John McNamara.
His side was already hobbled by serious injuries to star players Nathan Waite (finger), Ryan Craig (knee) and Dave Renton (ankle) heading into last Saturday's clash with Milawa.
By the end of the match the Hoppers had two more guns in hospital, and another nursing a sore knee, leaving McNamara wondering whether his club was the victim of a voodoo curse.
"Someone must have done something wrong, because I've never seen anything like this," McNamara said.
It isn't so much the quantity of injuries that is startling, but the quality of players affected.
On the weekend it was Jaimon McGeehan, winner of the club's past three best and fairest awards and runner up in last year's Baker Medal, suffering a broken foot, while premiership captain Andrew Balfour went down in a sickening collision that left him with four broken ribs and a punctured lung.
"Clubs get these kinds of injuries," McNamara said.
"It's something you deal with in football.
"But in my time in football I've never seen this.
"You might lose one or two star players here or there, but to lose your best five in the space of a couple of weeks is incredible."
Balfour, who was rated by most observers as Moyhu's best player in last year's grand final, was injured when, in typical fashion, he backed into a pack trying to mark the ball.
"It was like a car accident," McNamara said.
"Normally he does that sort of thing and just bounces back up, so you know when he can't get up that he is in serious trouble.
"It's a life threatening injury if you can't get any air into your system, so we were lucky the ambulance arrived as quickly as it did.
By - Scott Anderson.
CRUNCHED: Moyhu skipper Andrew Balfour struggles to get up after a collision left him with four broken ribs and a punctured lung.
PHOTO: Cheryl Browne
Last Modified on 20/06/2012 13:15