Putting it down to “plain bad luck”, the 25-year-old hopes that wicked sequence has come to a close and he can help Centrals Trinity Bulldogs pull themselves off the bottom of the pack this year.
So far so good too, for the vice-captain and assistant coach who booted eight goals in the side’s first round defeat of North Cairns last weekend.
The full forward, who works at AFL Cairns as a game development co-ordinator, was the beneficiary of some midfield dominance as he corrected his accuracy after half-time to give the Bulldogs a much-needed confidence boost.
“I had kicked one goal five at half-time, so it wasn’t looking too good,” he said. “But it was good to kick a bag and it was a great start for us.”
Child was ruled out for the season after round nine last year when he copped a knee to his back that broke ribs, punctured his liver and tore his abdomen wall.
The painful setback caused internal bleeding and added to his long list of war stories that include three ACL tears (two in his right knee, one in his left) a torn hamstring and two broken jaws, to name a sampling.
“I have hyper extensive joints, so there is always that bit of extra friction on them,” Child said. “But I think mainly it’s just plain bad luck and you can’t harp on the past.”
The Bulldogs will get a real chance to prove themselves tomorrow when they travel to Port Douglas.
The defending champions showed off their new-look team in a classy defeat of a quality South Cairns last weekend and Child is excited by the challenge.
“We had a fantastic win but Port are a different prospect and going up there to play is the best barometer of where we are at.”
He leads the golden boot after one round, with Bulldogs’ teammate Kaine Parsons on five and perennial golden boot winner Matthew Walsh on four goals in his pursuit of 1000 AFL Cairns majors.
“It’ll take a bit to pass the guru this season,” Child said of Walsh’s stranglehold on the goalkicking award.
Article Courtesy of Murray Wenzel The Cairns Post
Last Modified on 21/04/2015 13:27