DARCY Fort’s hopes of challenging for the no.1 ruck position at Geelong have hit a pre-season hurdle.
A knee injury suffered late in the 2020 season has flared in recent days, with the Cats yet to decide the course of action for the 27-year-old, who is entering his third season at GMHBA Stadium, following scans.
“It would have been around the week after the Port Adelaide game in the finals,” Fort said when asked when the injury first occurred.
“I noticed it in training, but I had a knock on it that weekend in the scratch match. It sort of popped up out of nowhere, really.
“We’re still assessing it. We had to get the previous scans, and we’re just getting some second opinions now.”
With no timeframe at this stage for a return, Fort is frustrated by this latest issue, which continues an injury-interrupted 12 months for the South Barwon product.
He was sidelined for several weeks after suffering bone stress in his foot following the Round 7 loss to Collingwood after stringing together four consecutive games for the first time in his AFL career.
“It is a little bit frustrating; I haven’t had the best run with injuries the last 12 months, unfortunately.
“But, I’ll just get back to the grind and control what I can control and keep prepping myself for footy, whenever that is.
(I’m doing ) a lot of gym work and a lot of sessions in the heat room.
“I’m doing as much as I can, and when I can start working on my knee again, I’ll start doing it.”
Fort says he had again targeted becoming Geelong’s first choice in the ruck.
“The goal every year since I’ve been here is to go out there and try and win the no.1 ruck spot,” he said.
“We’re very lucky that we’ve got a lot of good players in Rhys (Stanley), and Sav (Esava Ratugolea), and Blics (Mark Blicavs), and even JJ (Josh Jenkins).
“There’s a lot of really good players who can go in there and have a real impact for us. I was looking forward to that.
“Unfortunately, it’s been a cut a little bit short this pre-season.
“Whenever I’m back out there training, I’ll be going back to it and doing my best again.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
