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| parragirl |
Michael Hagan Post Match Media Conference - Round 729 April 2007Q) IT IS NEVER A GOOD SIGN WHEN A DOCTOR COMES TO A MEDIA CONFERENCE? A) - FROM DR JOHNSON - No, I would imagine not. The situation is that there has been a virus going around the Club since Thursday. A number of players have been off-colour progressively since then and some only slightly improved. Ben Smith succumbed this morning and Tim Smith at half-time. There were a number of others who were treated for this and medically they were below par. They were apart from both Smiths - Nathan Cayless, Fui, Aaron Cannings, Josh Cordoba, Blake Green and Joel Reddy. They are the ones we know of. We do not know where it has come from, there is no common factor we can find. There is a bad virus going around Sydney so it may be that. Q) WHAT EXACTLY IS IT? A) It is a virus that causes gastroenteritis. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Q) IN YOUR OPINION HOW MANY PLAYERS WERE FIT TO PLAY TODAY? A) There were 17 who were part of the squad and 8 of them should not have played today. Q) IS IT FOOD POISONING? A) No, it is a virus that we do not know where it came from, although it can come from food. It could come from a restaurant or unwashed salads or chicken. It is more likely just a virus that is going around Western Sydney. Q) WILL THEY BE OK FOR NEXT WEEK? A) They should be - it normally lasts about 48-72 hours. Q) TO MICHAEL NOW - DID ALL OF THAT MAKE IT REALLY HARD IN MAKING SOME DECISIONS? A) Yes, as the doctor said we take 8 away with us and we need a few more there before kick off. We had Joel come in late - some guys improved enough to let them play but the energy that you need to play just wasn't there. We were just a really flat football side. It just wasn't acceptable in terms of the performance though. Q) HAVE YOU EVER ENCOUNTERED ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE? A) I probably did not expect it to knock us around like it did. You invariably get a player or two that may be struggling when you play away but I have not encountered a situation before where we had one player pull out on the day of the game, another at half time and others struggling. It is a difficult enough sport at the best of times - they played very well and made it hard for us. Q) WHAT WAS THE SITUATION WITH TIM SMITH? A) The feedback was in the first half that he was really struggling and physically distressed. It was thought best to get him off and try and get him better for next week. You cannot be out there if you can't get through the game and do what you want to do. Q) WHAT WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS PRE GAME? A) I did not think a couple of our boys would be at their best put it that way. It was actually a few more than that. Even when you are suffering from mild dose of it it is not ideal but it wasn't a mild dose. Q) WHAT IS THE PLAN NOW? A) Just to get them recovered as quickly as possible and see where we are for next week. Q) THE TITANS PLAYED THE PERFECT GAME FOR THEIR OPPONENTS THEN - HIGH OCTANE? A) Yes they did and full credit to them for doing that. They are a very dangerous football side and they executed their plays well and racked up some points. John Cartwright said it was their best performance. They dominated all areas and players like Prince and Campbell love playing on the back of that. They are entitled to be very happy with how they played. Q) IT GETS NO EASIER NEXT WEEK? A) It never does in this sport. We will have a few players not available for selection. I have to say I thought I was getting the virus after 20 minutes of the first half - I was quite nauseous! http://www.parraeels.com.au/news/news1519.asp |
| parragirl |
It was never going to be an easy game right from the start with 8 players ruled medically unfit to play and had to have injections to allow them to play.
The Titans were the better team and played a good game but in my opinion had the Parra players not been sick and the team been in full strength I think it may have been a different game. The Titans still would have won with the way they played but it may have been a closer game. I wish the players a speedy recovery from this virus and hope they are recovered well enough to play against the Roosters on Saturday night. |