Winchelsea coach Ben Moloney’s football comeback hasn’t gone to plan, suffering a knee injury in Saturday’s 47-point loss to North Geelong at Eastern Oval.
The former VFL star will find out the extent of the damage later this week, but he won’t be lacing on the boots for this week’s crucial clash with Werribee Centrals at Galvin Park.
“I just sort of hyper-extended it,” Moloney said. “I went for a spoil and just landed a bit funny.
“I’ll get it looked at – it’s just a bit stiff and sore at the moment.
“Hopefully that’s all it is, but we’ll take it as it comes.”
Moloney, who completed most of Winchelsea’s pre-season and has continued to train with the group since home-and-away matches started, last played with the Warrnambool & District club Kolora-Noorat.
He decided to play after Cassidy Parish was a late withdrawal on Friday, after failing to overcome a back injury suffered the previous week against Bannockburn.
“We just needed someone inside and a bit of on-ground leadership,” Moloney said.
“And I certainly find it difficult to be able to lead standing on the sidelines.
“So, I put my hand up Saturday morning to jump in.”
Despite the loss, which leaves the Blues sitting two games outside the top five with a 2-5 win-loss record, Moloney was happy with the effort against the unbeaten ladder leaders.
“I thought we played three really, really good quarters of footy,” he said.
“And then we had an injury to Oli (Mahncke), and we ended up having three on the bench who couldn’t come back on by the last quarter.
“But against the top side, we should be really proud of how we pushed them to that point.”
Moloney is confident Parish and Mahncke will be right to take on the Centurions, while Reuben James is likely to return from a quad issue.
A win will keep Winchelsea within striking distance of the top five, but a loss could put them three games adrift heading into the King’s Birthday Weekend bye.
“Every week is an eight-point game with how close the competition is,” Moloney said./
“At one point, we were third and went down to tenth in two weeks. I’ve said to the boys and reiterated that it could take two or three games for us to get back up to fifth or sixth.
“We just need to keep turning it up and not allowing a couple of losses to define our season.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for us to take the game on, and the shackles should be off.”
X: @krockfootball
