Speaker 1: This episode of Two Good Sports was recorded on gadigal Land.
Speaker 1: This land was never seated, always was always will be
Speaker 1: hi and welcome two Good Sports sports news told differently.
Speaker 2: I'm Georgie Toney, I'm Nev.
Speaker 1: And you may be able to tell, dear listener, but
Speaker 1: we have a little bit of an extra spring in
Speaker 1: our step because Nevo and I are in the same room.
Speaker 2: We're in the same studio, same space, kicking off the
Speaker 2: week together. George, I have been waiting for this.
Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled that we could actually be in the
Speaker 1: same bubble together. It's rare these days for us, which
Speaker 1: is sad and honestly it needs to be rectified.
Speaker 2: We've already talked about the fact that I stalk you
Speaker 2: on your messages. George, where are you, whether you're back
Speaker 2: in Sydney, what's happening? Today's the day?
Speaker 1: Today, I am here, I am here and as my
Speaker 1: gift to you, Nivo, I will allow you to decide
Speaker 1: good sport or bad sport.
Speaker 3: You kick it off.
Speaker 2: I'm going good sport, George. I know that shocking. And
Speaker 2: of course, however, on Saturday night we had the A
Speaker 2: Leagues Men's Grand Final. It was Central Coast Mariners up
Speaker 2: against Melburn victory. The Mariners going for and historic treble
Speaker 2: in Australian sport. They won the AFC Cup, they'd won
Speaker 2: the premiership and on Saturday night, after a goal in
Speaker 2: the ninety first minute and then two goals in extra
Speaker 2: time in front of a record crowd on the Seni Coast,
Speaker 2: this little club with the smallest budget of all did
Speaker 2: this incredible thing.
Speaker 3: They won.
Speaker 2: They won the treble and look they could be the
Speaker 2: good sport yes, but no, no, no, Actually their fans
Speaker 2: George their fans and I'm you know, we don't promote
Speaker 2: pitch invasions. So their fans streamed onto the pitch afterwards.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing about these little boutique stadiums, right,
Speaker 2: and it's not tiny, it still holds over twenty thousand,
Speaker 2: but they literally like just walk down and let themselves
Speaker 2: in the gates, streamed onto pitch.
Speaker 3: But see this, it gave me.
Speaker 1: It was reminiscent of when Buddy kicked his thousandth gold Franklin, Yes,
Speaker 1: it was that.
Speaker 3: So it wasn't one of those ones where you're like, who's.
Speaker 2: This nadyet on the field? Exactly.
Speaker 1: It was like, oh my gosh, yes, just this pure,
Speaker 1: pure celebration.
Speaker 2: It was. I was in amongst it. Now. Floor managers
Speaker 2: were getting a little bit stressed, and I was like,
Speaker 2: look at these coasts. We are safe here. This is
Speaker 2: a happy place right now, there's a happy place to be.
Speaker 2: But what I loved was they celebrated with the players,
Speaker 2: they celebrated with each other, and then the ground announcer
Speaker 2: really politely said over the loudspeakers within the bowl, ladies
Speaker 2: and gentlemen, could you please return to your seats we'd
Speaker 2: like to start the postmatch presentation. And they all went, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: that makes sense. Yeah, no worries, No worries, mate, They'll
Speaker 2: just trailed back off the pitch so that.
Speaker 1: I'm so great, Which just goes to show I mean,
Speaker 1: because a lot of times soccer fans in particular cop
Speaker 1: a lot of flak for their behavior. But here is
Speaker 1: a prime example of when people just have such power
Speaker 1: for the team and they are able to, I guess,
Speaker 1: live that out in a way that everyone can.
Speaker 3: Be happy about. Just it made the game. It's made
Speaker 3: the game having the Grand Final there.
Speaker 2: It really did. And I think a good call from
Speaker 2: the league, who have copped plenty of criticism for numerous
Speaker 2: other calls throughout the season, but they went, do you
Speaker 2: know what, we could fit more in another stadium in
Speaker 2: Sydney and take those gate takings, or we could actually
Speaker 2: celebrate the connection between this club and that community and
Speaker 2: give the Central Coast the biggest night that it's ever
Speaker 2: been seen on the Central Coast. Yeah, and that community
Speaker 2: gets the boost all round, and we get to celebrate
Speaker 2: what really is genuinely such a special connection between that
Speaker 2: club and their fans and what they've managed to achieve
Speaker 2: in the last couple of seasons, which is truly remarkable.
Speaker 1: Well, Nevo, in honor to you and us being in
Speaker 1: the same location this week.
Speaker 3: I also have a good sport. Oh I love Yes.
Speaker 2: I'm actually slowly winning you over. In two weeks time,
Speaker 2: it'll be like good sport or good sporte? Do you
Speaker 2: like to che my good sport?
Speaker 3: And actually, do you know what?
Speaker 1: People may see this as a bad sport, depending on
Speaker 1: how you sit in the overall debate on the relevance
Speaker 1: of Barbie dolls in today's society, But my good sport
Speaker 1: is the Mary Fowler barbie doll that has been released.
Speaker 3: This is not sponsored. Get on board if you'd like
Speaker 3: to though Motel, but.
Speaker 2: Missus George's address if you'd like to send one.
Speaker 3: I am so obsessed with this.
Speaker 1: This doll has I mean Mary Fowler, one of our
Speaker 1: favorite Matilda's.
Speaker 3: I mean she's still.
Speaker 1: So young, like it's actually early twenties, so for her
Speaker 1: to just imagine having a Barbie doll like in your likeness,
Speaker 1: all like what and before you're even twenty five?
Speaker 3: What the hell?
Speaker 2: How does that initial phone call go? So?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: Mary? How a phone call from Mattel They want to
Speaker 2: make a barbie of you?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What? Yeah? Sorry? What you'a what? Now?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Great?
Speaker 1: And that's got the little gloves. It's got the little
Speaker 1: Mary Fowler gloves, which I love. I also do hope
Speaker 1: that they're glued on. Can you imagine all of the
Speaker 1: missing gloves that just go away like that, you know,
Speaker 1: the parents have gifted this incredible tooint total child.
Speaker 3: And then like where's Where's Mary's glove? Who knows?
Speaker 2: And then we attacker of my own I can imagine
Speaker 2: the meltdown. Yeah, van happens without one missing glass, one
Speaker 2: missearching the house because the dog's probably eaten.
Speaker 3: I know, I know. So also could be a great
Speaker 3: if they could be sold separately. That's how they get you.
Speaker 3: That's how those corporations.
Speaker 1: Has like the ponytail, the Mary ponytail with the multiple
Speaker 1: little hair tires going down her ponytail, and I just
Speaker 1: think it's so great, it's so wonderful, and it is
Speaker 1: indicative of just how the Matildas continue to dominate this culture,
Speaker 1: but change the culture. I mean talking about the Matilda's.
Speaker 1: Someone who's not going to be in the team for
Speaker 1: a while. Is Zamka our captain courageous? And that, unfortunately
Speaker 1: is because of her injured ACL. And we're seeing this
Speaker 1: more and more, especially when it comes to female athletes,
Speaker 1: and Nevo and I a damn well sick of it.
Speaker 1: So we're going to try and figure out what is
Speaker 1: happening and how we can fix it. We're getting the
Speaker 1: stethoscopes stay with us, so, dear listener, Nevo has pointed
Speaker 1: out that maybe I don't need a stethoscope when I
Speaker 1: am examining someone's ACL.
Speaker 3: But you know what, I'm going to continue on.
Speaker 2: Doctor Tunny.
Speaker 3: Here we are, Nevo.
Speaker 1: What we can be in agreeance with is that we
Speaker 1: hate to see when some of our most beloved athletes
Speaker 1: are cruelly ruled out with the ACL nevo When was
Speaker 1: it that?
Speaker 3: Do you think? Are you like me?
Speaker 1: Probably out because I'm naming us both doctors, But are
Speaker 1: you like me when you watch a game of anything
Speaker 1: across coats, when you're watching a game and you see
Speaker 1: someone go down and you're like, oh God, I hope
Speaker 1: it's not the ACL, Like, do you diagnose them straight
Speaker 1: away like I do?
Speaker 2: One of the reasons we do that though, isn't it
Speaker 2: because so often acls are non contact injuries. Yes. So
Speaker 2: when you see that moment where athletes planted their foot,
Speaker 2: they've changed direction, they go down outside of a tackle,
Speaker 2: that's that moment where you go, no, not another one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like they've been shot, honestly, honestly and.
Speaker 2: In this really innocuous looking moment or movement.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, And it's always just one that you just
Speaker 1: hold your breath because generally that's twelve months out of
Speaker 1: the game. Yeah, generally, like as soon as this happens
Speaker 1: in oh god, mid season, you're like, they're not playing finals.
Speaker 1: If the team was going to get to finals, whatever
Speaker 1: that is. That is a very extensive rehabilitation program as well,
Speaker 1: because it's all about trying to get lateral movement back
Speaker 1: into your knee, so when you're doing explosive sports like football, rugby, league,
Speaker 1: AFL NET.
Speaker 3: This is a really really serious one.
Speaker 1: But why it is of such concern, I would say
Speaker 1: to all Australians now, is we had the news most
Speaker 1: recently officially we knew it was going to happen, but
Speaker 1: it's official. Samkur has been ruled out of the Paris
Speaker 1: Olympics for the Matilda's with her blown acl.
Speaker 2: Which when she went down in January was where our
Speaker 2: heads went pretty fast, it wasn't it. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: it'd be a minor miracle to see her back because
Speaker 2: we do see some athletes back and depending on the
Speaker 2: severity of the ACYL injury, we see some athletes back
Speaker 2: in nine months, but that's the absolute minimum, and George,
Speaker 2: we don't see them back anywhere near their best yes,
Speaker 2: in nine months. In fact, it can be a couple
Speaker 2: of years before we see them back playing the kind
Speaker 2: of football that we saw them playing in the.
Speaker 1: Past, because you think of the physical toll of that injury,
Speaker 1: but I have to think the older that I get
Speaker 1: the mental toll of trust your body again. We've just
Speaker 1: talked about how innocuous these injuries can be, so trusting
Speaker 1: your body and putting it to the back of your mind,
Speaker 1: being like no, no, no, I don't. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: do that again, because quite often people do.
Speaker 2: Even I think, just George, how isolating that long term
Speaker 2: injuries are in their own right that rehabilitation period. So
Speaker 2: you go from being in a team sport, being in
Speaker 2: a team environment, to progress being very very slow to
Speaker 2: begin with, yeh, in terms of your recovery, a complete
Speaker 2: lack of mobility to begin with, difficulty having a shower
Speaker 2: by yourself to begin.
Speaker 1: With, which I never really truly Again, this is just me,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up with sport, being ignorant to it. Right,
Speaker 1: you see one of your favorite players go down, and
Speaker 1: then you know, you kind of forget about it. You
Speaker 1: put it on the back burner until you see them
Speaker 1: come back again. But for that player, it's been a
Speaker 1: year of them hobbling around the crutches in a moonboot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the gym by themselves, not knowing when they'll
Speaker 2: be able to kick a ball again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, which I just think. I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: I stub my toe and I want to call the ambulance.
Speaker 2: So being back to why we may have not made
Speaker 2: it as professional athletes, despite an incredible amount of skill,
Speaker 2: were so close, just missed by that one stubbed toe.
Speaker 3: It was such a set that Nevo. It can be
Speaker 3: so debilit in.
Speaker 2: Your water polo career, honestly.
Speaker 1: But if it has felt like the conversation around ACL injuries,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to women's professional sport, may have
Speaker 1: been getting louder or seeming to be more common, then
Speaker 1: there was actually some numbers which could be backing that up.
Speaker 1: Last year at the World Cup, thirty seven players missed
Speaker 1: that tournament with ACL related injuries. In the total in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, one hundred and sixty five ACL injuries.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, at least one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: two players suffered from this type of injury, and Sam
Speaker 1: Kerr is one of fifty four players who have had
Speaker 1: an ACL injury this year. So those starts are as
Speaker 1: of April.
Speaker 2: So what even just in our local league in the
Speaker 2: A leagues this season, George. When the season started we
Speaker 2: saw Nat Tobin, the captain of Sydney FC, go down
Speaker 2: in the first game of the season. The first half
Speaker 2: of the first game in front of a record crowd
Speaker 2: at Alliance Stadium, where there was so much excitement off
Speaker 2: the back of the World Cup, she went down and
Speaker 2: did her ACL in round one, And for the opening
Speaker 2: almost two months of the season, we lost our player
Speaker 2: every single week.
Speaker 1: Which just is crazy, right, Like, why why is that happening?
Speaker 3: Is it happening more frequently?
Speaker 2: I think that is a really interesting question. And the
Speaker 2: great thing about those numbers that you've just read out,
Speaker 2: the only good thing about those numbers is that we
Speaker 2: now actually have some numbers. Yes, so data collection has
Speaker 2: actually begun in earnest, which is really good because you
Speaker 2: speak to the last generation of the and so many
Speaker 2: of those players had ACL injuries one if not more
Speaker 2: throughout their careers, and they talk about feeling like it
Speaker 2: was more a matter of when it will happen rather
Speaker 2: than if so. Obviously, with more visibility of women's sport,
Speaker 2: more high profile athletes as being reported or more, we're
Speaker 2: hearing about it more, we're connecting with those athletes who
Speaker 2: we adore more and their time out of the game.
Speaker 2: But I think female footballers and female athletes will tell
Speaker 2: you that this has been an issue in women's sport
Speaker 2: for generations. Yes, it's not new, but that data and
Speaker 2: the fact that we're tracking it and hopefully beginning to
Speaker 2: track it in much better ways, that is new, and
Speaker 2: that is important, and surely that's the path then to
Speaker 2: solving it.
Speaker 1: We're already starting to interpret that new data, right And
Speaker 1: at the moment, it's thought that it's between two and
Speaker 1: six times more likely for an ACL injury to occur
Speaker 1: in women footballers versus male footballers, Yes, which is just
Speaker 1: an astounding, astounding statistic and something that hopefully you're right, Nevo,
Speaker 1: with more of this collection can be rectified some way.
Speaker 3: Again, I'm getting my stethoscope. It's the old medical misogyny.
Speaker 1: I think more and more stories come to life, which
Speaker 1: I mean about time about women's pain in particular, because
Speaker 1: a lot of the studies throughout all time when it
Speaker 1: comes to just collating data in a medical field and
Speaker 1: how to treat an assortment of injuries, illnesses, diseases, whatever
Speaker 1: it may be, all of those studies have come from
Speaker 1: male test subjects.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And I don't know about you, Nevo, but the male
Speaker 1: and female body is quite different, you know, seem to be.
Speaker 1: So we're still trying to rectify that in just across
Speaker 1: the medical field, let alone when it comes to high performance,
Speaker 1: and we're so far we're starting so far behind. But
Speaker 1: I do think that at the moment, hopefully, what needs
Speaker 1: to be done, what needs to be looked at in
Speaker 1: terms of strength and conditioning, there has to be something
Speaker 1: there right There seems to be a lot of these
Speaker 1: injuries happening, whether that be just in determining how female
Speaker 1: athletes should train, how often they should train, how intense
Speaker 1: they should train, what happens the best practice after their games. Again,
Speaker 1: because these are newer leagues or full time professionalism.
Speaker 2: The number of games, Yes, our female players are playing
Speaker 2: in a week, lettern a season, let alone a two
Speaker 2: year period. That undoubtedly has increased astronomically.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I don't know if we're prepared for it,
Speaker 1: And it seems to be at the moment at least
Speaker 1: we might be letting our athletes down in some way
Speaker 1: because for them to continue to have these crippling injuries.
Speaker 2: Certainly, I think in terms of the research that's being
Speaker 2: done into why, and particularly with that focus, as you say,
Speaker 2: on female bodies, I was chatting, and obviously it's anecdotal,
Speaker 2: but I was chatting with a few of the A
Speaker 2: League women's players who had ACL injuries this year, and
Speaker 2: I asked them whether anyone in the aftermath of that
Speaker 2: had checked in on where they're at in their cycle,
Speaker 2: where they're at in their menstrual cycle when they had
Speaker 2: the injury, and no, no one had asked, No one
Speaker 2: had taken down those details. And when we know that
Speaker 2: research in this space is so limited and so needed,
Speaker 2: it does blow my mind.
Speaker 1: That maybe not even the right questions of being asked
Speaker 1: exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: And maybe that is male physios or male doctors. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's not, but certainly when we know there's so many
Speaker 2: different factors that contribute to it, I'm like, why aren't
Speaker 2: we trying to get as much data from these athletes
Speaker 2: when it happens as we possibly can that then maybe
Speaker 2: over time we start to see some kind of pattern
Speaker 2: to it. Maybe it is menstrual cycle related, and clubs
Speaker 2: like Sam Kurz Chelsea, yes, they already adjust their training load,
Speaker 2: even though we don't have enough data to say for
Speaker 2: sure that it is related, Yes to a players menstrual cycle,
Speaker 2: they already adjust their training load according to where their
Speaker 2: players are at each month, which is they're already taking
Speaker 2: precautions in that space, and isn't.
Speaker 1: It wild that for me? I mean, that makes complete sense.
Speaker 1: But even me and I've covered you know, you and
Speaker 1: I have covered sport for god not to ages, but
Speaker 1: like twenty.
Speaker 3: Years your age. It's just a bit. But in my
Speaker 3: head that still seems groundbreaking. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: That a club which is in charge of a women's
Speaker 1: football team is going to those lengths but it shouldn't.
Speaker 3: Even be a length. That should be just standard practice.
Speaker 2: Totally right. But I'm like, oh my gosh, how great
Speaker 2: of them, oh taken into a counter period and the
Speaker 2: impact it might have.
Speaker 1: Whoa I mean you talk about me with my stub
Speaker 1: toe the week before my period. I'm no kind of
Speaker 1: sport can you imagine? Oh my god, trip is actually dialed.
Speaker 1: But honestly, but it's these kind of things, right that
Speaker 1: I think are representative of the cultural shift that still
Speaker 1: needs to happen. We talk about the rise of women's sport.
Speaker 1: I'm using my quotation marks because everyone knows by now
Speaker 1: how much I hate that term. But we talk about
Speaker 1: the rise of women's sport and how great it is,
Speaker 1: but then they're still for every new and I am
Speaker 1: going to gender this male fan that comes along to
Speaker 1: women's sport. You start the conversation talking about someone's cycle
Speaker 1: in relation to how important that is in their aptitude
Speaker 1: and their capacity as an athlete, They're going to tune out.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to. But that's just like again,
Speaker 1: we're up against it basically.
Speaker 2: And I think making those conversations more common is up step, right, Yes,
Speaker 2: that's a step that you can take.
Speaker 1: Yes. So hence, while we are talking about the menstrual cycle.
Speaker 2: On two good sports today, welcome, had a great start
Speaker 2: to your week for everyone.
Speaker 1: They are of course also physical circumstances that have affected
Speaker 1: the rise of ACL injuries potentially. I mean it wasn't
Speaker 1: that long ago that our Matilda's women's footballers were playing
Speaker 1: on artificial turf.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and certainly that pitch surface, how hard the surface
Speaker 2: that they're playing on, that has been shown to have
Speaker 2: an impact. It's why in Australia, where we know we
Speaker 2: have a lot of very firm pitches, you see so
Speaker 2: much watering of the pitches before a game to soften
Speaker 2: them up. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean even when it comes just to football shoes,
Speaker 1: football boots, they are essentially just a smaller version, not
Speaker 1: taking into account that women may be groundbreaking have different
Speaker 1: kind of feet, And I think that's with a lot
Speaker 1: of equipment, right, Like I complain when I go to
Speaker 1: the gym and I think that the dumb bells are
Speaker 1: too they're dumb. The dumb bells are dumb because they're
Speaker 1: too hard to hold because they're not made for female hands.
Speaker 1: My hands aren't big enough to actually wrap around them properly.
Speaker 2: Look, it's starting to change, and there are actually some
Speaker 2: companies now designing women's boots for women based on women's bodies, which, hey,
Speaker 2: there's a market there.
Speaker 3: It's crazy, it's not crazy to think about that.
Speaker 2: But that v angle of hips to knees right for
Speaker 2: women compared to men, women are a little bit wider.
Speaker 2: And speaking to players, they talk about the fact that
Speaker 2: women tend to be a bit more cord dominant than men,
Speaker 2: so there's more load than when you twist and turn
Speaker 2: the cord turns one way, your hamstring turns you back.
Speaker 2: So taking into account those factors, you start to see
Speaker 2: why those numbers so heavily are so heavily weighted towards
Speaker 2: women having this ACL injury more than men not men
Speaker 2: do too. We've seen a number of them in the
Speaker 2: AFL this season, but the numbers show that women women
Speaker 2: just dominate these stats in a way that we wish
Speaker 2: they didn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that the AFL dow you can
Speaker 1: go somewhere to explaining this as well, because I know
Speaker 1: that as that league gets more and more professional and
Speaker 1: even in its infancy, we were seeing these type of
Speaker 1: injuries and people were like, well, hang on, maybe. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen commentary where it's like the girls just don't
Speaker 1: know how to play properly, and it's saying, no, that
Speaker 1: has actually no impact when you do your.
Speaker 2: Ac whoever that does not have a stethoscope, they don't.
Speaker 1: Have a step yeah nan no, no, no, no, that's missing Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're missing that and brain cells. But but what some
Speaker 1: of my favorite research into this right now, because we're
Speaker 1: all about the research, rule about the data. We are
Speaker 1: scientists at heart, and NEVO is the impact that sports
Speaker 1: bras can have when it comes to this.
Speaker 3: Type of interest.
Speaker 1: And this is new, This is new, so we are
Speaker 1: only learning more and more about this really every single day.
Speaker 1: But basically there's new research out now that says that
Speaker 1: if you have a very good sports bra, you take
Speaker 1: it seriously, you treat it as though it is actually
Speaker 1: a piece of equipment, which obviously it is. Then that
Speaker 1: can help because if you are worried about jumping around
Speaker 1: everywhere and feeling really really self conscious about your bust.
Speaker 2: You're adjusting the way you move.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and therefore you are putting strain more on
Speaker 1: limbs and areas that it doesn't need to be, increasing
Speaker 1: the rate that you may actually blow your ACL, which
Speaker 1: is insane. I was talking to Queen Liz Lizelli's about this,
Speaker 1: who has done her ACL at least once during her
Speaker 1: netball career. She it wasn't really a topic of conversation
Speaker 1: about how, of course, like something as simple as just
Speaker 1: feeling really supported and comfortable when you're on the court
Speaker 1: would make a massive difference to performance, but also a
Speaker 1: massive difference it turns out to your safety.
Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't that wild? It is? And then when it
Speaker 2: becomes a safety issue, how much to clubs need to
Speaker 2: be engaged in both the research but also providing that
Speaker 2: safety equipment for their athletes to one perform at their best,
Speaker 2: but to have the best chance of staying out on
Speaker 2: the court out on the field longer.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And if this was something I stand by,
Speaker 1: if this was something that was happening. I know that
Speaker 1: we're seeing a lot of ACL, especially at the moment,
Speaker 1: a lot of long term injuries across codes, especially in
Speaker 1: the ENNERL and AFL right now. But if this was
Speaker 1: happening so frequently in the men's game, and it was
Speaker 1: something as simple as you know, getting your sports bra
Speaker 1: fitted correctly, yeah, different shoulder pads, different light shoulder pads needed, gents, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they'd be in them next week. They'd call in NASA
Speaker 1: like do you know what I mean, They'd get it solved.
Speaker 3: It, it'd be done.
Speaker 1: We wouldn't be having this conversation. But that is maybe
Speaker 1: being me being a little bit too critical, because there
Speaker 1: is something called Project ACL, which is a new three
Speaker 1: year research initiative on ACL injury prevention that will apply
Speaker 1: its findings across women's football globally. So there is work
Speaker 1: being done in this space to try and limit this
Speaker 1: damage and stop the frequency of this such long term injuries.
Speaker 2: And there's been a lot of talk about that from
Speaker 2: a FIFA angle, from a UAFER angle this season, and yeah,
Speaker 2: there's still so much difference in what we're doing in Australia,
Speaker 2: the data we collect here, the questions we ask here,
Speaker 2: what they're doing in New Zealand just across the ditch,
Speaker 2: the data they're collecting there, what they're doing in Europe.
Speaker 2: And so I think if we can consolidate.
Speaker 3: Yes, no one should gate keep. Do not gate keep
Speaker 3: the data.
Speaker 2: We want to share this, We want to share this research.
Speaker 2: We want to share this information. And even if at
Speaker 2: a club level the doctors and the physios at that
Speaker 2: particular club aren't asking the right questions, there should be
Speaker 2: a goddamn hotline. Yeah, these players can ring because they
Speaker 2: want to share this information. They want to they want
Speaker 2: to be a part of the solution. Yep.
Speaker 1: And even just talking about like when it comes to
Speaker 1: your rehab, right, what helps, what doesn't help? Just a
Speaker 1: little light at the end of the tunnel. You're week
Speaker 1: one into a fifty two week comeback, Like, it's a
Speaker 1: debilitating injury physically and mentally, and it needs needs to
Speaker 1: be sorted out.
Speaker 2: Even in terms of their return as well. George to
Speaker 2: sport because obviously it takes a while to get that
Speaker 2: faith back in your body, to get your speed back
Speaker 2: to where it was before. But you also often see
Speaker 2: calf or hammy injuries quite quickly in players' returns. And
Speaker 2: obviously sometimes that hamstring graft is used and you can
Speaker 2: create a bit of an imbalance, but you lose muscle
Speaker 2: mass in your calf as well, and that takes time.
Speaker 2: So even that support system within the player's network themselves
Speaker 2: to talk about how that looks, the time that it
Speaker 2: takes when you actually felt like you had gotten back
Speaker 2: to that performance level that you were at before you
Speaker 2: did your ACL, support within that network at that time
Speaker 2: in recovery would be really great as well.
Speaker 1: Remember when it was the Women's World Cup and Sam
Speaker 1: Koh had the most talked about calf on the planet
Speaker 1: and now, unfortunately for us, she has the most talked
Speaker 1: about me. But she will be back is the important
Speaker 1: thing to say. She will be back, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to say she's going to be better than ever, don't
Speaker 1: don't you disagreed?
Speaker 3: Evo, I can't handle it right now.
Speaker 2: See. I was trying to think, George, when we were
Speaker 2: talking about having this conversation about any positive like any
Speaker 2: upsides and despite that fact that, yeah, like often players
Speaker 2: talk about not feeling normal for at least eighteen months
Speaker 2: post injury, and it takes time your body getting used
Speaker 2: to those new biomechanics. But I think sometimes players say
Speaker 2: on reflection afterwards that it actually gives their bodies a period.
Speaker 3: Of rest that they've never had.
Speaker 2: That they've never had because they are playing a quantity
Speaker 2: of games and of minutes that they've never played before,
Speaker 2: So that enforced rest both mentally and physically. Maybe that's
Speaker 2: the long term, hopefully positive that after that rest you
Speaker 2: do act come back a better version of yourself, maybe
Speaker 2: as a human as well as as a footballer, and
Speaker 2: maybe your longevity in the game is increased as well,
Speaker 2: because at that period in your peak, in your prime,
Speaker 2: you've actually rested.
Speaker 1: What I've taken away from that is that Sam is
Speaker 1: going to play until she's eighty, and when she returns
Speaker 1: to the football pitch in twenty twenty five, she's gonna
Speaker 1: be the most Sam care of all time.
Speaker 2: I that's exactly what I meant.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so you heard it here first, Nevo. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's time for a fun fancy.
Speaker 3: That is the correct reaction for fun fact time.
Speaker 1: Now, you, Nevo are, of course our football nostro damas
Speaker 1: you know everything about it. So I'm trying to stump
Speaker 1: you here. Oh, I mean, I guess you've heard of
Speaker 1: the Giant club Juventus.
Speaker 2: You've as I have, continue, Did.
Speaker 1: You know that the Italian Giant is known for their
Speaker 1: famous black and white stripes on their football shirts.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that they originally played in pink shirts with
Speaker 1: a black tie. Yah?
Speaker 2: What yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Huh like an actual black tie.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, let me continue reading.
Speaker 2: And because I've gone to like business work shirt and tie,
Speaker 2: That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. Sorry, let's
Speaker 2: recap pink shirt, black black.
Speaker 1: Pink shirt, pink shirt, black tie. In nineteen oh three,
Speaker 1: the club looked to replace those shirts because the pink
Speaker 1: color was fading after they were washing it.
Speaker 2: They were washing I do you know what football shirts
Speaker 2: they washed a fair bit? Yeah, well you scrimping on that.
Speaker 3: You got to do it. You got to factor it in.
Speaker 1: So you'vens asked one of their English players, John Savage,
Speaker 1: at the time, if he knew anyone in England who
Speaker 1: could supply new football shirts for that team, And it
Speaker 1: just so happened that old mate John had a mate
Speaker 1: who was a Nots County supporter and they wore black
Speaker 1: and white stripes, so we shipped out a bunch of
Speaker 1: them to turn Inventus have won black and white ever since.
Speaker 2: Hey, do you know what I love?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 2: You still do see the pink pop up occasionally? Yeah,
Speaker 2: in there are way strips like so you still there's
Speaker 2: that ode to their history there? Which is is that?
Speaker 3: Is that what it is Nevo? Or have they just
Speaker 3: put it in the wash?
Speaker 2: Yeah? With red bed sheets the red towel on again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you say history, I say accident?
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 2: On the note? Can we give Joe Montemuro a little
Speaker 2: mention please? Former coach of Juventus women's side. He was
Speaker 2: in town this weekend coaching the A League Women's All
Speaker 2: Stars team. Of course he was, and he has one
Speaker 2: of those incredible tactical footballing brains that you just love
Speaker 2: sitting with him, hearing him dissect a game, describing what
Speaker 2: he is seeing and how it's playing out and why
Speaker 2: there is space there? Not just so there is space there?
Speaker 2: But why where did it come from? Why is that
Speaker 2: gap there?
Speaker 3: It's not a fluky they meant that?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Neva.
Speaker 2: So good to actually be here together.
Speaker 3: I know I've loved every second of it. Hopefully you
Speaker 3: have as well listening along.
Speaker 1: I'm really thankful and grateful that Neva and I have
Speaker 1: been able to solve the epidemic that is the ACL injury.
Speaker 1: You're welcome, You're welcome, You're welcome everyone who knows what
Speaker 1: we're going to be solved next week, but until then,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening to Two Good Sports.
Speaker 3: It's been an iHeart production.
Speaker 1: As always, follow us on Instagram at two Good Sports Podcast.
Speaker 3: Until next week, be a good sport