It’s been a massive year the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS, after months of preparation, and 29 matches, including twelve away trips, the young guns will play their final NEAFL home game this Saturday August 27.

This journey has not come without its casualties with GIANTS Sports Science Manager John Quinn and his team working tirelessly to manage fatigue and injury whilst preparing the GIANTS for their AFL debut in 2012.

Most recently, South Australian GIANT Josh Growden and Riverina GIANT Kurt Aylett have undergone surgery for a broken leg and ACL injury respectively.

GIANTS reporter Beck Mills caught up with John Quinn to find out what the team is doing to manage these injuries and how the AFL support network is helping the young players with their recovery.

So John, can you tell us a little bit about Josh Growden’s injury against Gold Coast on the weekend?

“This is the worst injury that we’ve had this year. Unfortunately he was tackled and as he was tackled there was a loud crack that was audible all around the ground.

“What he’s actually done is broken both his tibia and fibula. We had him up in Brisbane within 24 hours and he was with the best surgeon and he will be operating on Josh today.”

What will the surgery involve?

“They will put a rod in there to stabilize the bone and then a few months later that will be taken out and the bone should heal and knit around that.

“It’s a fairly long rehabilitation; it will probably take him nine months to get through all of this.

“It’s not a nice injury to have but the club will be right behind him all the way to get him back.”

The AFL is a very close community, is that wide network of support helpful for young players when they are injured?

“There’s a real understanding in sports circles, especially when it’s a severe injury like this one.

“There have been three other players this year alone who have had similar injuries.

“I know that one of those players rang Josh while he was in hospital before he’d even had the X-Ray. It didn’t take long for word to get around.”

What happened with Josh after he was injured?

“The amazing thing with Josh Growden was that we had him in hospital on the Gold Coast and within about half an hour, we had surgeons from up and down the East Coast in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, discussing and debating about the best thing to do for him.

“By the time we got the X-Rays and the scans done, we were able to send those through to all of those specialists and they were all debating the best approach to take.

“There’s no doubt that Josh Growden is getting the best treatment that we can offer in this country.”

Kurt Aylett injured his ACL in the match against NT Thunder a few weeks ago, how is his rehabilitation going?

“He had a full knee reconstruction on Friday; everything was a great success so he’s now out of hospital.

“He’s technically started rehabilitation already and it’s probably an eight or nine months until he’s back into playing. He’ll be back into training in five or six months.”

What happens in this type of operation?

“They take a part of the hamstring and they graft that. Over the period of a year, that will be as strong as the ACL that was damaged or stronger.”

2011 has been a long year for the young GIANTS, has the season begun to really take it’s toll on their bodies?

“Definitely. It’s been a concern for us all year to make sure that we manage these young bodies well and we’ve done that.

“A key concern for the GIANTS this year has been to get the players ready to play AFL and we haven’t deviated from that either. As the season is coming to a close for us, we’re also coming to the beginning of our entry into the AFL.

Other than fatigue, what other factors impact the players at this late stage in the season?

“You’ve also got to take in to account other things like being away from home, the travel factor, nutrition and so on, we’re really happy with our efforts so far this year.”

Are you proud of what you’ve achieved as a Sports Science department this year?

“I think that the amount of training we’ve been able to get in to these bodies this year and the growth and development we’ve seen from a physical perspective as has been enormous.

“I don’t think we will deviate too much from our program next year.

“These guys will be our second year players so now that we have a new wave of players coming in, we need to be sure that we can manage them just as well as we have this year.”