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Clyde Rathbone's Super 14 season could be over. The ACT Brumbies winger yesterday revealed ongoing knee problems had the potential to prevent him from playing all season.
"I couldn't say I'm confident that I think I'll get out there and be able to play for the Brumbies this year," a frustrated Rathbone told The Canberra Times.
"I guess I'm hopeful I'll be around for some games, as you always are, but I'd be lying if I realistically and honestly believed and had confidence in my ability to get out there at this stage."
Rathbone hasn't been seen on a rugby field since March 31 last year when the Brumbies defeated the Johannesburg Lions at Ellis Park in South Africa.
The 26-year-old suffered a corked thigh during that match, which sidelined him for the following week's encounter against the NSW Waratahs at Canberra Stadium.
Having recovered from the thigh injury Rathbone then triggered a pre-existing tendinopathy flare - a torn or sore tendon in the knee - which subsequently ended his Super 14 season.
It also bought an end to his representative ambitions, including making the Wallabies side for the Rugby World Cup. Medical staff eventually upgraded the tendinopathy to chronic patella tendonitis.
Then in November, just as he was enjoying a successful early pre-season with the Brumbies, Rathbone had to have surgery to remove a bone spur in his left knee. He has made a slow yet steady recovery from the surgery.
Rathbone started "basic locomotive movement" on the injured knee yesterday involving running on a mini-trampoline and getting basic movement in the joint.
"I was happy with how it went, it came up well," he said.
"It's a step in the right direction but it's just one of those things where I really don't know if or when I'll be back. We haven't got a peg in the sand saying I'll be back playing in two weeks or four weeks or eight weeks, it's more a case of gradually introducing a higher workload, waiting to see how the knee responds to that increased workload and progressing from there."
I've spent the past couple of weeks doing low-loading on my leg which involves strengthening exercises through a number of different rehabilitation techniques." (Poor bugger - can't help but wonder whether time and younger players are starting to pass him by)
Rathbone is one of nine players in the Brumbies' 31-man senior squad sidelined with injury.
He joins Adam Ashley Cooper (ankle), Peter Betham (foot), Alister Campbell (knee), Anthony Faingaa (knee), Gene Fairbanks (neck), Julian Huxley (brain tumour), Stirling Mortlock (shoulder) and Guy Shepherdson (hamstring) unavailable for selection for Super 14 this weekend.
Betham will make his return via the Brumby Runners, which play the Queensland Academy in Brisbane on Saturday night.
Of the others Campbell and Shepherdson are set to be the earliest to return, scheduled to make their comebacks against the Free State Cheetahs in nine days time.
The worse off is Faingaa, who medical staff have confirmed will not play again this season. Shepherdson suffered his injury at training a fortnight ago. It was initially set to sideline him for one week only but last weekend's match against the Waratahs was his second consecutive without playing.
"I was at training and fairly innocuously changed direction in a drill we were doing, I felt a bit of a ping and suspected it was a tear which MRI scans later revealed to be a grade-one tear," he said.
"I'm gradually going from light jogging to putting more pressure on the leg. On Monday I ran at about 85 per cent with some directional change but the difficult thing with hamstrings is you're always risking further injury while rehabilitating."
Shepherdson will again be missing when coach Laurie Fisher today names his side to take on the Hurricanes at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.
Peter Fitzgerald
Canberra Times
Rathbone may have season on sidelines - rugbyheaven07.com.au
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