OLLIE Wines’s prognosis is “probably the best outcome” given the shoulder injury he suffered while water skiing at the weekend, according to Port Adelaide’s General Manager – Football, Chris Davies.
Wines had an arthroscopy on Tuesday and is expected to have his arm in a sling for a period of time, after dislocating his right shoulder on Saturday.
Davies says the 24-year-old is aiming to return to the field early in the home and away season.
“He’s had an arthroscopy and there are a couple of staples in there to stabilise the joint,” Davies clarified during a press conference on Tuesday.
“It’s probably the best outcome we could have hoped for based on the fact that he dislocated the shoulder.
“The typical reconstruction would have a person out for four plus months - we don’t expect that to be the case.
“This is an arthroscopy, it’s similar to what the guys have on their knees these days where they can turn things around pretty quick.”
Davies didn’t to put a timeframe on Wines’ return to the football field but said the next couple of weeks would determine that.
He said he expected Wines to recover well, given his history of dealing with injury.
“We’re hopeful that Ollie will be back towards the start of the season. (It takes) 8-10 weeks normally but we’re not putting a timeframe on it,” Davies said.
“Ollie has been historically a good healer so we’re hopeful that’s the case here and I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to be back as soon as he can be.
“Our medical team are pretty capable and they’ll go about their rehab the way that they see fit but it’s fair to say that the type of player that Ollie is, we want to make sure he’s right to go when he comes back because the last thing we want is recurring injuries.”
Wines was water skiing near Mannum with a number of his teammates on a day off on Saturday when the injury occurred.
He was fortunately able to be seen at the Mannum Hospital, where his shoulder was relocated.
The incident has caused widespread debate about whether players should be allowed to take part in such recreational activities.
Davies said Wines is an experienced water skier, having skied since he was six years old, and Port Adelaide’s position is clear on the matter.
“I know that there’s been a lot of talk about whether he should or shouldn’t have been out there, but let’s be clear our view as a club is that we value the guys having time away from the club and spending time together,” he said.
“They need an outlet. We’re really comfortable with Ollie doing what he did, outside of the fact that he got injured.
“Ollie is a guy who loves his skiing. He is a light plane pilot. We’ve got other guys who like to ride motorbikes, others who like to ride go-karts.
“We’re not going to stop them doing their own thing in their own time.
“Clearly, we want them to take as much care as they can but at the same time, we’re not here to rule their lives."
Davies was also quick to shut-down speculation that the incident and injury would hamper Wines’ chances of taking over the Power’s captaincy given the process underway to find Travis Boak’s replacement.
“Ollie is a guy, and I spoke to his mother earlier on, he’s been skiing since he was six years of age and hasn’t had a hiccup in all of that time,” Davies said.
“We’re not going to hang him on something like this.
“We’re going through a process from a captaincy perspective that we’ll work through over the next few weeks but if Ollie’s in contention, this incident is not going to make any difference as to whether he’s the captain of our club or not.”
