Cats\u2019 56-point loss to Gold Coast last Friday night.<\/a><\/p>\nWestern Australian Sam Taylor and GWS have been dealt a much more frustrating blow, with scans revealing a high-grade hamstring strain that will sideline the intercept defender until at least Round 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cClubs initially toed the line on State of Origin because the players loved it, but it\u2019s now a quiet revolt,\u201d On The Couch\u2019s Jon Ralph told Fox Footy on Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatrick Dangerfield is the latest player who we can trace his calf injury back to that State of Origin game. I spoke to a lot of clubs; it\u2019s not just the game in mid-February, it\u2019s the ballistic nature of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree of those Gold Coast players, and two of them who came into the squad late (had) record GPS data. Sam Taylor is out for potentially a third of the season, and GWS is now asking for some kind of compensation regarding injury allowance on his deal (with approximately) $400k of missed earnings.<\/p>\n
Victoria beat WA in epic Origin clash | 03:02<\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s injury was the unwanted cherry on top for the Giants injury list last month, amid a stretch that saw Tom Green (ACL, season), Brent Daniels and Toby Bedford (both hamstring) all sidelined in quick succession.<\/p>\n
Star midfielder Finn Callaghan was also sidelined from the club\u2019s two pre-season fixtures, but did front up for the Giants\u2019 Opening Round win over Hawthorn. <\/p>\n
\u201cClubs are saying: \u2018It won\u2019t be that we\u2019ll pull players out, we\u2019ll just make up fanciful excuses if it is that we don\u2019t get less game time (for players).<\/p>\n
\u201cMark Evans, the CEO of Gold Coast, tells Fox Footy: \u2018We love the fact our players are involved. We have to make sure the timing of it and game load is something that we encourage clubs and players to continue to support it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Reigning Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell suffered a shattered broken finger during the marquee fixture which has only just seen him get out of a delicate cast, Carlton\u2019s Jacob Weitering was dealt a rib fracture, while Adelaide recruit Callum Ah Chee sustained a low-grade hamstring strain.<\/p>\n
Bailey Smith (calf) and Sam Darcy (back) also pulled up sore, but overcame doubt to front up for Geelong and the Western Bulldogs respectively last weekend.<\/p>\n
Sam Darcy of Victoria (left) attempts to mark the ball against Sam Taylor of Western Australia (right) during the 2026 AFL Origin match at Optus Stadium on February 14, 2026 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Speaking earlier in the evening on Fox Footy, three-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick was supportive of the Origin concept, but <\/p>\n
\u201cI love State of Origin, I just didn\u2019t love the timing. It didn\u2019t suit the build-up for our team. We really want our players to play, but probably at the right time,\u201d Hardwick<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really challenging when we\u2019re preparing for Round 0, to have our player three to four weeks out playing the fastest game that\u2019s ever been recorded on GPS. They probably just weren\u2019t ready for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t compromise our season for a game that, although important, is not ready to be played at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essendon coach Brad Scott added: \u201cI thought in the lead-up that we had stumbled on the perfect time of it. A lot of people have talked about the middle of the year. I think if you\u2019re a top four side in the middle of the year and you get an injury in origin, that would be an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s always going to be a debate … but I\u2019d love it to fit somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly one month on from the AFL\u2019s first authentic State of Origin fixture for 27 years, clubs are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,12093,64,63,689,55,639,42255,14451,5340,3500,263313,12099,2485,22393,245421,263307,81847,263309,30394,681,263311,233522,36720,201715,12157,263312,677,262801,262797,39209,46,701,263308,244991,12105,12144,85,22889,263310,660,3439,698],"class_list":{"0":"post-530039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-another-fine-day","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-bailey-smith","16":"tag-calf-complaint","17":"tag-calf-injury","18":"tag-finn-callaghan","19":"tag-game-load","20":"tag-game-time","21":"tag-gold-coast","22":"tag-hamstring-strain","23":"tag-high-grade-hamstring-strain","24":"tag-injury-allowance","25":"tag-injury-risk","26":"tag-injury-riddled-club","27":"tag-intercept-defender","28":"tag-jon-ralph","29":"tag-lock-horns","30":"tag-low-grade-hamstring-strain","31":"tag-mark-evans","32":"tag-marquee-fixture","33":"tag-matt-rowell","34":"tag-minor-calf-complaint","35":"tag-oceania","36":"tag-ongoing-injury-saga","37":"tag-origin-injuries","38":"tag-patrick-dangerfield","39":"tag-perth","40":"tag-queensland","41":"tag-respective-season-openers","42":"tag-rib-fracture","43":"tag-sam-darcy","44":"tag-sam-taylor","45":"tag-sports","46":"tag-star-midfielder-finn","47":"tag-toby-bedford","48":"tag-victoria","49":"tag-western-australia","50":"tag-western-bulldogs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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