Wellington Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman provided a “positive” update on star Sabitra ‘Samba’ Bhandari ahead of this weekend’s Ninja A-League showdown against Melbourne Victory.
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Quizzed on Samba’s involvement against last season’s runners-up Victory, Olympic Games gold medal-winning coach Priestman told reporters: “We’ve got one more session to get through.
“She couldn’t get through all of today. So we’re just working through that.
“We’ll see where it’s at come the end of the session tomorrow (Saturday). But I’ve got no doubt, if it’s not this weekend after the international break, which is positive.”
While Samba is poised to return, the Phoenix will be without a pair of stars due to anterior cruciate ligament injuries in a devastating blow.
For Dutchwoman Middag, it is her third ACL injury.
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“I’m devastated for the players,” Priestman said. “I think that’s where you always go, right?
“Both probably at different points of their career. Tess to get a third one. I can only imagine rehabbing three times, and little bit older, and then Alyssa who seems to have hit another level I feel in the pre-season.
“So on a personal note, I’m just gutted for them, but they handled it with real maturity and class, and then the holes that they leave in the team, I think that’s the big part now.”
Priestman, who said the club are looking into potential injury replacements, was asked about the number of ACL injuries in women’s football.
“When you hear of two ACLs, I think everyone can go into crisis mode,” she said. “On Monday, we had a big four-five hour meeting with Gilly (Director of football Shaun Gill) and the medical and science department.
“To be honest, I was quite blown away how much the club do, do. Whether it be prehab, in the gym programs… you start asking yourself, what can we do differently?
“I was really pleased to hear how much this club does do. Sometimes it’s luck, but yes, females are at a greater risk. I think two very different ACLs. One’s a re-rupture, and the other one is more non-contact, where you do start look and say, Okay, what can we do differently?
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“But yes, I think you’d probably look at the women’s team and the amount of prevention things we do versus the men. I think you have to, science speaks for itself. There’s just so many happened, particularly, I would say, in the last 5-10 years in the women’s game, where the intensity has gone up, the calendar has gone greater.
“People are jumping from season to season. I know there’s a whole research project going on with FIFA and clubs around the world. So we’ve just been hit with that. But I fully support the medical team, the sports science team here. They do a great job and I’m sure they’re kicking themselves too as to what was that little 2% we could do differently.
“But the diligence I’ve actually been quite blown away by it.”
