We pick up the John Quinn interview with him talking about how the club handled the respective knee injuries to Justin Blumfield and Chris Heffernan. Quinn believes Blumfield’s knee injury was handled better.

Q – Is that because we were sort of forced into playing Heffernan at the time?

A – Well we were forced in the sense that we were desperate to get players back and he was sort of ready and we were saying lets get him out there and go. We probably had the same pressure on us with Blumfield but we were saying hang on a minute, look what happened with Heff, lets take a bit more time with JB. I think that was the better course of action. So in hindsight again, I would do that differently if I had to.

Q – The knee injuries must have been frustrating because in terms of soft tissue injuries we basically matched 2000 and they are injuries that are probably out of our control.

A – The reality is our figures soft tissue wise was probably better in 2000 so we virtually didn’t have any to speak of. Dean Wallis you’d say had hamstring problems but we all know here that was back related stuff. We didn’t have much soft tissue it was all bone related. We being the fitness staff, I demanded, lets get to the bottom of why we are getting these injuries and don’t be frightened at pointing the finger and blaming ourselves. Maybe we’ve done this wrong, maybe we’ve done too much of that and not enough of this. It was a very thorough examination of our whole program and our whole injury trends – at the end of the day we came up with nothing in our hands other than to say – it is just the nature of the game and that’s where we are at. You can’t prepare the players for that not to happen. It is just a factor of the game and I suppose you just go in hoping it won’t happen again. I really believe if we hadn’t had the spate of injuries we had this year we would have won the Premiership and that’s how significant it was.John Quinn looks at how the club handled the respective knee injuries of Chris Heffernan and Justin Blumfield in his continuing series looking back at season 2001 and ahead to 2002. Quinn believes some players were running purely on heart towards the end of the season and he says it is a credit to them.

Q – Did you look at those blokes who had those knee injuries on Grand Final day and think they are in trouble and they look to be running up and down on the one spot. Did that cross your mind at any stage?

A – The truth was I probably looked at them even before that. Even in the least couple of home and away games going into the finals I think it was pretty obvious we weren’t going as well as we could. One thing I’d say about the Essendon Football Club, they are a club with enormous heart and when we are 14 points up in a Grand Final, I would back our guys to win and I did on the day and I’d do it again. I think Brisbane are a very good team and they got over us but I think if we had the opportunity again in different circumstances, I don’t know if it would be the same case.

Q – Just on the fact that we basically played 22 Grand Finals during the home and away season – did that take more of a toll mentally or physically?

A – It’s just my opinion but I think it took more of a toll mentally. Remember we played a lot of young kids, kids who had never played AFL football. When you put on a red and black jumper you can’t say “he’s playing for Essendon but he is only 18, he’s only 19, or it’s only his first game” – it doesn’t matter! He’s put on a red and black jumper, he’s playing for Essendon and he’s expected to play – we’re expected to win. It is as simple as that. Those young kids have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. It was a significant thing when we beat Hawthorn in round nine. We basically had nine players out and it was a tremendous win. Then we went to Brisbane and we were beaten. It was a significant turning point for them but I think it was also significant for us because that was symptomatic of what was going to happen later on. Our young kids could not just back up again. One supreme effort was really good.