The 2026 season has ended before it barely began for Geelong Falcons young gun Tom Steinfort.
Scans have confirmed that the under-16 All-Australian’s knee injury, sustained early in the second quarter of Sunday’s Round 1 Talent League loss to Dandenong Stingrays at Ballarat’s Mars Stadium, is a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
The injury to Steinfort, a 194cm key position player, is not only a blow to the Falcons, but also to Geelong Grammar and Vic Country, where he would have likely been part of the squad.
“I didn’t quite catch the incident because I was looking at the play ahead, and I looked back, and I saw him on the ground,” coach Paul Corrigan said.
“I didn’t know whether he got hit or whatever. But as soon as the vision came through on the Sunday night, I went back and had a look.
“He just changed direction, had planted the leg, and it just gave way.
“We never really know after the game, and talking to the physios, we were hoping for the best and maybe a lateral ligament.
“But, scans confirmed on Monday that he’s done his ACL and will be out for the season, which is absolutely shattering for him.”
Steinfort, the 16-year-old son of former Geelong and Collingwood player Carl, was previously Next Generation Academy-aligned to the Cats as a result of being born in Finland.
However, a change to the NGA criteria means he will be part of the open draft pool in 2027.
“He’s obviously pretty upset, but we’ll look at what it is for going forward with the surgery, and what’s best for him,” Corrigan said.
“Get him into the rehab, mate, and get him back fitter and stronger for 2027.”
Steinfort’s injury capped a tough beginning to 2026 for the Falcons, who suffered a 51-point loss.
Corrigan says it was performance that caught him by surprise.
“Our pre-season had been exceptional, in the sense of the way the boys had approached it, the way they had attacked training,” he said.
“The changes that we had made to the way we want to play just off the back of probably our athletic profiling, I actually didn’t see that coming.
“And to Dandy’s credit, they played really well.
“They pressured us really well, and we went back into our shells and probably didn’t trust the way we wanted to play that we’ve been training for all pre-season.
“It was, in hindsight, really disappointing. I think the boys were a bit embarrassed by the performance after the game.”
The Falcons return to Ballarat to face the GWV Rebels on Saturday, with Corrigan confident of a rapid response.
“We just reviewed a lot of it, and a lot of it wasn’t talent-based,” he said.
“It was more just about our effort and our intent to be more competitive, and that doesn’t require talent.
“We’ve looked at that, we’ve assessed the game, and we’ll be all positive now tonight (at training).”
Meanwhile, the Tash Heffernan-coached Geelong Falcons Girls open their season against the Stingrays at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval on Sunday, April 12.
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